subtilisin

[ suhb-til-uh-sin ]

noun

, Biochemistry.

1. a proteolytic enzyme produced by the bacterium Bacillus subtilis, used as an active ingredient in detergents and also in research to help reveal protein structure.

Word History and Origins

Origin of subtilisin¹

1953; < New Latin subtilis specific epithet ( subtile ) + -in ²

Example Sentences

You started with the enzyme subtilisin, which breaks down milk protein, and used directed evolution to produce a version of it that worked not in a water-based solution but in an organic solvent.

From The Guardian

Despite Seidah's protests, the journal editors gave both the gene and its protein product a new name that fit with standard nomenclature: proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9, or PCSK9.

From Nature

PCSK9 — which stands for proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 — also binds to the LDL receptor, and when it does so, the receptor is destroyed along with the LDL.

From New York Times

The group's latest interest has been an enzyme called subtilisin, which is found in ordinary soil bacteria.

From Time Magazine Archive

As they investigated subtilisin's complex structure, the scientists realized that it had a curious similarity to another enzyme, chymotrypsin, common to all vertebrates, including man.

From Time Magazine Archive