At Peptides 411 you get the entire scoop. What are peptides? The difference between Peptides and Proteins. Where to buy peptides and how to get the lowest prices.

1. What are Peptides?

2. Peptides are short chains of amino acids
monomer that are linked by amide
bonds. Amide bonds are also known as
peptide bond and both are used
interchangeably to denote one another.
One molecule of water is eliminated from
the condensation of amino acids to form
peptide. The result is peptide or amine
bonds.

3.  Either end of dipeptide can react to give
rise to tripeptide. The tripeptide in turn
can condense with another amino acid
and so on.
This keeps giving rise to formations of
long chains of amino acids. For instance,
insulin, which is a common protein, has
51 amino acids units in two linked
chains.

4.  Peptides are so numerous because of
their ability to be synthesized into very
long chains. Peptides and proteins are
similar in structure but there are
noticeable differences between them. A
protein is polymer of amino acids. It is a
poly peptide containing several amino
acids linked together.

5. Types of Peptides
The shortest peptides known are
dipeptides. It consists of two amino acids
linked together by a single peptide bond
with the loss of water molecule. The
biosynthesis of peptide bonds always
requires an input of free energy. Peptides
bonds are quite stable kinetically. The
lifetime of a peptide bond in an aqueous
solution in the absence a catalyst is close
to a thousand years.

6. Tripeptide is another type of peptides.
Glutathione is one the most important
and well known tripeptide. It is
commonly found in significant
concentrations in all tissues. It contains
glutamic acid, cysteine, and glycine.
Instead of the usual backbone that is
characteristics of peptides, the carboxyl
acid side chain is part of the backbone
peptide structure. The normal carboxyl
group is the so called side chain in this
case.

7. Polypeptide chain consists of a regularly
repeating part. This is the main chain. It
can also be referred to as the backbone
of the polypeptides. It is very rich in
hydrogen bonding potential. Apart from
the backbone, there is also the variable
part. This is made up of distinctive side
chains.

8. Each residue of a polypeptide chain
consists of carbonyl group. The carbonyl
group is good hydrogen-bond acceptor
with the exception of Proline which is an
excellent donor of hydrogen bond. These
two groups highly interact with each
other. They also interact with the
functional groups present on the side
chains. This interaction is of great
importance in stabilizing the polypeptide
chains

9. Most natural polypeptide chains are
made up of 50 and 2000 amino acid
residues. They are commonly known as
proteins. When the chains are small, it is
called Oligopeptides or simply peptides.
Examination of the geometry of
polypeptides reveals a number of
outstanding characteristics. These
include the following:

10. Peptides bond are mainly planar.
They have considerable double bond
character. This prevent rotation about
this bond
Inability of the bonds to rotate account
for planarity
Trans and cis configuration is possible for
a peptide bond. However, the most
commonly observed is trans
configuration.

11. Classes of Peptides
Depending on how they are produced,
Peptides are usually divided into several
classes. The classes of Peptides are as
follows:
Milk peptides
Ribosomal peptides
Nonribosomal peptides

12. Difference between Peptides and
Proteins
Peptides can be distinguished from
proteins on the basis of size. A peptide is
generally believed to have less than 70
amino acids. Proteins usually consist of
one or more polypeptides and this gives
rise to long chains. Protein can simply be
defined as a polymer of amino acids.

13. When amino acids are incorporated into
peptides, they are called residues. This is
due to the release of either a hydrogen
ion from the amine end or a hydroxyl ion
from the carboxyl end. At times, both
may occur as there is release of water
molecules during the formation of each
amide bond.

14. There are so many things to know about
peptides. The subsequent articles will
address uses, advantages, importance
and benefits of peptides to human life.
Find where to buy peptides:
http://www.peptides411.com/