Friday, April 12, 2013

All About Peptides & Peptide Synthesis

By Armand Zeiders


Biotech firms are often tasked with jobs such as custom protein expression, N-terminal sequencing services and often custom peptide synthesis. The latter has many important applications, but it is complicated for those outside the scientific community to understand. Here is a brief explanation that may be of help to those wanting to know more about peptides and synthesis.

The creation of peptide bonds is a highly important part of the process of creating proteins within the body. When two or more amino acids join together and form a link, a peptide is created. As the peptide chains elongate, they begin to form proteins. Without proteins most of the functions of the body would not be carried out. Proteins are responsible for replicating the DNA within our cells, transmitting important messages throughout the body and much more.

Peptide synthesis is simply the production of peptides, and when this occurs naturally in the body, it is known as protein biosynthesis. Custom peptide synthesis, on the other hand, is the creation of a specific peptide under controlled laboratory conditions. Several scientific fields have a use for synthetic peptides, including biochemistry, pharmacology and neurobiology.

These peptides are important for many studies, particularly medical studies, because they help scientists better understand protein structure. This can help researchers figure out the causes of certain diseases or medical conditions. In addition, researchers also are trying to find new medical treatments and vaccines to combat many different kinds of diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

Biotechnology companies also use theses custom synthetic peptides to create both monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies. The first of these, the monoclonal type, are derived from one source and each one is an exact clone. These monoclonal antibodies are studied by those attempting to create new treatments for cancer and those that are trying to improve screening tests for many serious diseases.

The custom polyclonal antibodies are somewhat different in that they are not all created from a single identical cell and instead produced from several different cells. These are used for many research studies including epitope mapping, function studies, receptor studies and the study of antigen-antibody interactions. In addition, they are helpful in the production of antivenin and experimentally are studied for their potential in treating deadly viruses such as Ebola.




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