What is a collagenase?
A collagenase is an enzyme that is able to split collagen. Since collagenases split bonds, they belong to the group of proteases. Like any enzyme, collagenase consists of amino acids strung together.
These amino acid chains are folded and ultimately always have a specific function. The task of collagenase is to split bonds between two amino acids. One of these amino acids is always proline, while the second may vary. Since collagen is made up of a lot of proline, it is split and finally broken down by the collagenases. There are a total of five different collagenases in humans, each specializing in a different type of collagen.
What are the tasks and functions of collagenase?
Collagenases have the function of breaking bonds between the amino acid proline and various other amino acids. Thus, they belong to the proteases rather than enzymes that break bonds with the help of water. The collagenases in the human organism are so-called matrix metalloproteases.
This means that they are not only composed of amino acids, but also have a metal ion in the center. With the collagenases, this is a zinc ion in the center. With the help of this metal ion and a water molecule, the bond between proline and the second amino acid is split.
Proline is found in large amounts in collagen, which makes up the majority of our connective tissue. It is the most important fiber component of various structures, such as skin, bones and cartilage. Due to the collagen-degrading function of collagenases, they play a major role in wound healing.
Damaged or dead tissue is split by the collagenase and finally degraded. This guarantees optimal wound healing by removing the dead tissue. In humans there are a total of five collagenases that specifically cleave various collagens.
These are mainly found in the lysosomes, which are responsible for the degradation of various molecules. However, collagenases are not only found in humans, but also in bacteria. They play an extremely important role in the clostridia. These bacteria use their collagenases to destroy connective tissue and thus to be able to spread better in the organism.
