Papain is a widely used ingredient in cosmetics, personal care, and skincare formulations. Depending on its function, it may serve as a moisturizer, preservative, emulsifier, or active ingredient to enhance the overall effectiveness and performance of a product.
Papain, also known as papaya proteinase I, is a cysteine protease (EC 3.4.22.2) enzyme present in papaya (Carica papaya) and mountain papaya (Vasconcellea cundinamarcensis). It is the namesake member of the papain-like protease family.
Papain family cysteine protease | |||||||||
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![]() Papain from Carica papaya | |||||||||
Identifiers | |||||||||
Symbol | Peptidase_C1 | ||||||||
Pfam | PF00112 | ||||||||
InterPro | IPR000668 | ||||||||
PROSITE | PDOC00126 | ||||||||
SCOP2 | 1aec / SCOPe / SUPFAM | ||||||||
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It has wide ranging commercial applications in the leather, cosmetic, textiles, detergents, food and pharmaceutical industries. In the food industry, papain is used as an active ingredient in many commercial meat tenderizers.