PEPTIDE

Peptide

Peptides are short chains of amino acid monomers linked by peptide bonds. The covalent chemical bonds are formed when the carboxyl group of one amino acid reacts with the amino group of another. The shortest peptides are dipeptides, consisting of 2 amino acids joined by a single peptide bond, followed by tripeptides, tetrapeptides, etc. A polypeptide is a long, continuous, and unbranched peptide chain. Hence, peptides fall under the broad chemical classes of biological oligomers and polymers, alongside nucleic acids, oligo- and polysaccharides, etc.

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peptide

Noun

  1. A class of organic compounds consisting of various numbers of amino acids in which the amine of one is reacted with the carboxylic acid of the next to form an amide bond.
  2. The peptide bond itself.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: peptide
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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