Peptides are naturally occurring biological molecules. They are short chains of aminoacid monomers linked by peptide (amide) 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 aminoacids joined by a single peptide bond, followed by tripeptides, tetrapeptides, etc.
see Peptide vaccine.
see Polypeptide.
Shotgun proteomics is a high-throughput approach used to identify and quantify proteins in complex biological samples. It involves the digestion of proteins into peptides, followed by their separation and analysis using mass spectrometry. The term “shotgun” refers to the random fragmentation of proteins into peptides without prior separation of individual proteins.