WHAT ARE PEPTIDES
Well, when we are talking about peptides then the first thing that comes into mind is “skin care”. But, actually peptides are known as the compounds that consists of three or more amino acid in it and they are linked through an amide formation. This is basically a covalent bond that is formed between nitrogen group of one amino acid and a carboxyl group of another amino acid. They actually are different from proteins and the difference is based on the number of amino acid remains. Dipeptides are the smallest peptides as they only have two amino acids that are joined by a peptide bond. If the peptide bond is having more than 50 amino acids then we will them as proteins and they are known as polypeptides. Peptides can be classified by the synthesis or the function. They can be classified by the function but they are not limited to that, the examples include, neuropeptides, Infectious disease, HLA peptides, and cancer peptides.
Other than function there are synthetic peptides that are the significant ones, on the basis of that they are used in the pharmaceutical and commercial products. Synthetic peptides are also being used to study of the enzyme substrate interactions with the imperative enzyme classes that are proteases and kinases, that are known for their role in moving the signals of cells.
These synthetic peptides have resemblance with the natural peptides and they are used as the drugs that will help the cancer patients fight again the disease. They can also be used as the reagents and standards in the MS (mass spectrometry) based applications. They are known as the primary thing in the MS based characterization, discovery and quantitation of the proteins.
Purposes
There are different purposes of peptides and they are classified on the basis of the purposes. Here are the examples of the different peptides, let us have a look:
- Non-ribosomal peptides:
They are actually named as this because they are synthesized without any usage of ribosomes in them as in no machinery is used so that there will be zero ribosomes. There are micro-organisms that are known to be the soil inhabiting ones, they are the main source of the creation of the non-ribosomal peptides. This type of peptides can be used as the antibiotic and to revive the soils that are contaminated with oil. - Ribosomal Peptides:
As it is clear from the name that these peptides are having ribosomes in them, yes, that is true as they are formed with the help of mRNA. They can easily be modified right after they are formed so that they can create more of them. - Milk peptides:
As the name indicates that these peptides must have been created from milk and of course it is rich in protein. When the milk proteins are going through the enzymatic breakdown when the milk is fermented or by the reaction of the digestive enzymes; it will cause the lactobacilli to form the proteinases. Now, this type of the peptides is known to have the anti-hypertensive effects in the studies. - Peptide Fragment:
They are found in nature when there is natural degradation, and they also can be formed the enzymatic degradation. There use is that they help to quantify or identify their own source proteins. - Peptones:
When the hydrolysis of proteins is done then the final product that comes after the chemical breakdown are the peptones. By hydrolysis we mean that the protein in any form when come in contact with the water then the hydrolysis occurs resulting in the formation of peptones. Peptone water is known to have the usage of the medium for bacteria in microbiology.