Amino acid peptides are short chains of amino acids joined by peptide bonds, with less than 50 amino acids. Peptide bonds hold amino acids together and form polypeptides, which can form proteins. Peptides and proteins have various roles in animal cells and are determined by DNA.
An amino acid peptide is a molecule that contains a short chain of amino acids joined together by peptide bonds. These molecules have the same basic structure as proteins, but there is a specific difference between them. The characteristic that differentiates a protein from a peptide of amino acids is the number of amino acids that come together to form the molecule. Generally, if there are less than 50 amino acids in the chain then it is considered an amino acid peptide.
Within both amino acid peptides and proteins, peptide bonds hold the amino acids together. Peptide bonds are an example of covalent bonds, which form when electrons are shared between two different atoms. In the case of amino acids, the bond is formed between the carboxyl group (-COOH) of one amino acid and the amino group (-NH2) of another. During the reaction that binds the two amino acid molecules together, a molecule of water (H2O) is released when a hydrogen ion (H) of the amino group joins a hydroxyl (OH) of the carboxyl group.
The shortest amino acid peptide that can be formed is called a dipeptide because it contains only two amino acids. From there, they increase in length to around 50 amino acids. As more amino acids join together, tri-, tetra-, and pentapeptides are formed. These molecules are also called polypeptides, which means “many peptides.” To form proteins, at least two polypeptides must be joined together.
Peptides and amino acid proteins have many different roles in animal cells. Both can form hormones and enzymes, which regulate the functioning of certain cells and can stimulate or inhibit particular reactions within cells. They also play a role in supporting different parts of the animal body as they are an integral part of many different types of cells and tissues, including hair, nails, muscles, bones and skin cells.
The sequence of the amino acid peptide is determined by the organism’s DNA. The long strands of nucleic acids provide the code for which amino acids should be attached to which. Initially, DNA is transcribed into RNA, which is then translated into an amino acid peptide or protein. Each amino acid corresponds to a combination of three DNA nucleic acids, or a codon. There are 20 different amino acids that can be joined together to form a peptide chain of amino acids.
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