A German consumes final sort of protein (7)

I believe the answer is:

elastin

'sort of protein' is the definition.

'a german consumes final' is the wordplay.
'a german' becomes 'ein' ('a' in German).
'consumes' is an insertion indicator.
'final' becomes 'last' (synonyms).
'ein' placed around 'last' is 'ELASTIN'.

(Another definition for elastin that I've seen is " protein".)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.