Question

What is a pentapeptide?

Answer 1

1. Proteins which are an important part of the balanced diet and helps to maintain the structural shape of the body and its parts and also help to maintain acid-base and fluid balance, provide strength to the body, is formed by the combining of a large number of biomolecules called the amino acids.
2. Thus, amino acids are called the building unit of proteins (long-chained). There are a total of 20 amino acids that can combine in various order to form different proteins and compounds.
3. Other than proteins, amino acids also form peptides, which are linear short chains of amino acids combined together. Normally a peptide chain consist of minimum two amino acids to a maximum of 50 peptides.
4. Peptides are formed when the amino acids combine together via covalent bonds with each other. These bonds are known as peptide bonds.
5. When two amino acids combine together to form peptide molecules, then it is called a dipeptide. Similarly, tripeptide has three amino acids in it and polypeptide consists of four or more amino acids in it.
6. Thus, a pentapeptide is a polypeptide having five amino acid residues which are combined together by peptide bonds. Example: Phytosulfokine (Aminoacid bonds: Tyr-Ile-Tyr-Thr-Gln).