Notes On Terminology
Length:
- A polypeptide is a single linear chain of amino acids.
- A protein is one or more polypeptides more than about 50 amino acids long.
- An oligopeptide (or simply a peptide) is a polypeptide less than 30-50 amino acids long.
Number of amino acids:
- A monopeptide has one amino acid.
- A dipeptide has two amino acids.
- A tripeptide has three amino acids.
- A tetrapeptide has four amino acids.
- A pentapeptide has five amino acids.
- A hexapeptide has six amino acids.
- A heptapentide has seven amino acids.
- An octapeptide has eight amino acids (e.g., angiotensin II).
- A nonapeptide has nine amino acids (e.g., oxytocin).
- A decapeptide has ten amino acids (e.g., gonadotropin-releasing hormone & angiotensin I).
- An undecapeptide (or monodecapeptide) has eleven amino acids, a dodecapeptide (or didecapeptide) has twelve amino acids, a tridecapeptide has thirteen amino acids, and so forth.
- An icosapeptide has twenty amino acids, a tricontapeptide has thirty amino acids, a tetracontapeptide has forty amino acids, and so forth.
Function:
- A neuropeptide is a peptide that is active in association with neural tissue.
- A lipopeptide is a peptide that has a lipid connected to it, and pepducins are lipopeptides that interact with GPCRs.
- A peptide hormone is a peptide that acts as a hormone.
- A proteose is a mixture of peptides produced by the hydrolysis of proteins. The term is somewhat archaic.
Read more about this topic: Peptide
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