have been derived from a common ancestor, as they both come from the same GH31 family. As a result of having similar properties, both of these enzymes work together in the small intestine in order to convert consumed starch into glucose for metabolic energy. The difference between these two enzymes is that maltase-glucoamylase has a specific activity at the 1-4 linkage of sugar, where at SI has a specific activity at the 1-6 linkage. See also Alpha-glucosidase Maltase References Further reading External links PDBe-KB provides an overview of all the structure information available in the PDB for Human Maltase-glucoamylase, intestinal Human proteins