In molecular biology, alpha-amylase inhibitor (or α-...) is a protein family which inhibits

mammalia A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle ear bon ...

n alpha-amylases specifically, by forming a tight stoichiometric 1:1

complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

with alpha-amylase. This family of

inhibitor Inhibitor or inhibition may refer to: Biology * Enzyme inhibitor, a substance that binds to an enzyme and decreases the enzyme's activity * Reuptake inhibitor, a substance that increases neurotransmission by blocking the reuptake of a neurotransmi ...

s has no action on

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

and

microbial A microorganism, or microbe, is an organism of microscopic size, which may exist in its single-celled form or as a colony of cells. The possible existence of unseen microbial life was suspected from antiquity, with an early attestation in ...

alpha amylases. They are found in raw plants/herbs such as cinnamon and bacteria (containing the inhibitor acarbose). A

crystal structure In crystallography, crystal structure is a description of ordered arrangement of atoms, ions, or molecules in a crystalline material. Ordered structures occur from intrinsic nature of constituent particles to form symmetric patterns that repeat ...

has been determined for tendamistat, the 74-amino acid inhibitor produced by '' Streptomyces tendae'' that targets a wide range of

mammalian A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

alpha-amylases. The binding of tendamistat to alpha-amylase leads to the steric blockage of the

active site In biology and biochemistry, the active site is the region of an enzyme where substrate molecules bind and undergo a chemical reaction. The active site consists of amino acid residues that form temporary bonds with the substrate, the ''binding s ...

of the

enzyme An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...

. The crystal

structure A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

of tendamistat revealed an immunoglobulin-like fold that could potentially adopt multiple conformations. Such molecular flexibility could enable an induced-fit type of binding that would both optimise binding and allow broad target specificity.

Clinical use

The intake of a single dose of alpha-amylase inhibitor before a meal containing complex carbohydrates clearly suppresses the glucose spike and may decrease the postprandial hyperglycemia (higher than 140 mg/dL; >7.8 mmol/L) in patients with type II diabetes. This ability is observed in the native/raw state of the alpha-amylase inhibitor; however, its consumption inside a meal that undergo heating (baking, frying or cooking/boiling) is expected to blunt its property to decrease the activity of carbohydrate digesting enzymes.

Formulation

The benefits of alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase inhibitors on health were shown to be stronger when the powder is consumed orally dissolved in water as a beverage in comparison to its intake as ordinary hard gelatin capsules.

References

{{InterPro content, IPR000833 Protein domains

Clinical use

Formulation

See also

References