The synthetic peptide is used in many fields including biochemistry, molecular biology, and medicine. It is used as a probe in structure-function studies of polypeptides and also serves as an antigen in diagnostic and therapeutic applications.
A synthetic peptide is a small polymer of amino acids that has a high biological activity due to its unique structure. It can be synthesised by either solution or solid phase peptide synthesis methods, both of which are used in drug discovery. The solutions synthesis method is more common and the majority of drugs that are in development have been synthesized this way. Solid-phase peptide synthesis is a more controlled method of peptide synthesis where each amino acid is bound to a solid support, known as a resin, in a sequence. The synthesis is carried out by a technique called divide-couple-recombine (DCR).
Peptide drugs can have a number of uses in the treatment of various illnesses. Some of these include the use of peptides as vaccines against infectious diseases. Peptides can also be used to develop antibodies that can bind to specific sites in proteins, leading to a change in their function.
A peptide is easy to make in large quantities, which makes it possible to carry out high-throughput experiments like measuring binding kinetics, and looking at libraries of peptides. Peptides can be characterized using several different analytical techniques, including chromatography and mass spectroscopy, such as MALDI-TOF, LC-QTOF-MS, or LC-QES-MS. These analyses provide information about the purity, molecular weight, and a range of other properties.