Denatured protein
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A denatured protein is one which has lost its functional conformation. Once denatured, a protein loses most, if not all of its biological activity. A protein can be denatured through various means including exposure to extremes of heat, pH, salt concentration, and use of detergents. Protein denaturation may be a favorable process biologically. For example, chaperonins are able to denature proteins transiently in order to force them to refold into their correct native conformation. During digestion, proteins are denatured by stomach acid allowing them to be degraded by proteolytic enzymes to their amino acid components.