The stems and fruits of pineapple plants contain a group of protein-diresting enzymes collectively melain and often used as an anti-browninp agent for frujte and ds an anti-browning agent for fruits and vegetables, Fruits and bles brown when they are bruised during transport or sliced and exposed to air. This browning is olled by enzymatic pathways that produce brown pigments. The browning of fruits and stables reduces the nutritional value of the food, so anti-browning agents such as bromelain are controlled by enzi used.

(a) Identify the type of monomer of which this enzyme is composed.

(b) Bromelain works by breaking the enzymes that cause browning into smaller molecules. Explain how the reaction that breaks up the enzymes occurs.

a. Bromelain comprises various subunits of proteolytic enzymes, that is, sulfhydryl proteases.

b. Bromelain performs the role of dissociating the enzymes into simpler molecules. Bromelain refers to a proteolytic enzyme that performs the role of dissociating the enzymes that are deleterious by the activity of a free sulfhydryl group present on the cysteine side chain. The dissociation of the enzymes is done by hydrolyzing the peptide linkage.

A nucleophilic residue produced by the cysteine acts on the enzyme and gives rise to a covalent complex. After this hydrolyzation of the complex is done by water, which eventually dissociates the peptide linkage of the deleterious enzyme. Due to the dissociation of the peptide bond, the enzyme finally gets dissociated into smaller molecules, and recovery of bromelain is done.