Carbohydrase


Carbohydrase is the name of a set of enzymes that catalyze 5 types of reactions, turning carbohydrates into simple sugars, from the large family of glycosidases..
Carbohydrases are produced in the pancreas and salivary glands, breaking down polysaccharides. This is because complex sugars are often insoluble, and therefore breaking them down will make it easier for the sugars to be absorbed into the blood, through the wall of the small intestine. A carbohydrate is usually a compound consisting of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Carbohydrase facilitates the hydrolysis of polysaccharides into simpler sugars called Monosaccharides.

Examples

reduces maltose into glucose: C12H22O11 + H2O → 2C6H12O6
Maltose + Water → α-Glucose
α-amylase breaks starch down into maltose and dextrin, by breaking down large, insoluble starch molecules into soluble starches producing successively smaller starches and ultimately maltose.
β-amylase catalyses the hydrolysis of starch into maltose by the process of removing successive maltose units from the non-reducing ends of the chains.
γ-Amylase will cleave the last αglycosidic linkages at the nonreducing end of amylose and amylopectin, yielding glucose.