Dehydropeptidase

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An enzyme that breaks down dehydropeptides by hydrolysis, splitting their peptide bonds in the kidney and other tissues
2. A biological catalyst which cleaves dehydropeptide compounds into their constituent amino acids through the addition of water
3. A protein enzyme that acts on dehydropeptides, hydrolyzing them into smaller peptide or amino acid fragments in living cells

Etymology: Dehydropeptidase is a technical coinage built entirely from parts that were assembled deliberately in modern chemistry. Its first element, "de-", is the Latin prefix meaning "removal of" or "reversal of," and here it signals that the enzyme acts on a molecule after water has been taken out of it. "Hydro-" comes from Greek "hydor," meaning water, a combining form long used in chemistry for compounds containing hydrogen or water. The final element, "-peptidase," marks the enzyme class that breaks peptide bonds, the links joining amino acids into proteins and smaller chains. Put together, the name describes what the enzyme does: it cleaves peptides after they have been dehydrated in the sense of having lost the water that would otherwise be involved in breaking them. The word is a plain example of how biochemists name enzymes by stacking descriptive combining forms, so its meaning can be read directly from its pieces.

Synonyms: renal dipeptidase