As a rule, an experiment carried out at school or in undergraduate study courses is rather simple and not very informative. However, when the experiments are to be performed using modern methods, they are often abstract and difficult to understand. Here, we describe a quick and simple experiment, namely the enzymatic characterization of ptyalin (human salivary amylase) using a starch degradation assay. With the experimental setup presented here, enzyme parameters, such as pH optimum, temperature optimum, chloride dependence, and sensitivity to certain chemicals can be easily determined. This experiment can serve as a good model for enzyme characterization in general, as modern methods usually follow the same principle: determination of the activity of the enzyme under different conditions. As different alleles occur in humans, a random selection of test subjects will be quite different with regard to ptyalin activities. Therefore, when the students measure their own ptyalin activity, significant differences will emerge, and this will give them an idea of the genetic diversity in human populations. The evaluation has shown that the pupils have gained a solid understanding of the topic through this experiment.

中文翻译：

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人唾液淀粉酶的检测和酶学表征

一般来说，在学校或本科学习课程中进行的实验相当简单，信息量也不是很大。然而，当使用现代方法进行实验时，它们往往是抽象且难以理解的。在这里，我们描述了一个快速而简单的实验，即使用淀粉降解测定对 ptyalin（人唾液淀粉酶）进行酶学表征。通过此处介绍的实验设置，可以轻松确定酶参数，例如最适 pH、最适温度、氯化物依赖性以及对某些化学品的敏感性。该实验可以作为一般酶表征的良好模型，因为现代方法通常遵循相同的原理：测定不同条件下酶的活性。由于人类中存在不同的等位基因，随机选择的测试对象的 ptyalin 活性将有很大不同。因此，当学生测量自己的 ptyalin 活性时，就会出现显着差异，这将使他们了解人类群体的遗传多样性。评价表明，通过本次实验，学生对课题有了扎实的理解。