Discovering and Analyzing the Patterns of Tripepetides

Discovering and Analyzing the Patterns of Tripepetides

Alvin Sherman Library 4009

A tripeptide is a peptide containing three amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Like DNA and RNA, proteins are synthesized as linear polymers (chains) composed of smaller molecules, in this case amino acids. Unlike DNA and RNA, in which there are four nucleotides from which to choose, proteins are constructed from at least 20 amino acids having a variety of sizes, shapes, and chemical properties. Each amino acid has a backbone consisting of an amino (NH2) group, an alpha carbon, and a carboxylic acid (COOH) group.

The order of the amino acids in a protein’s primary sequence plays an important role in determining its secondary structure and, ultimately, its tertiary structure. The sequence of amino acids that comprise a protein completely determines its three–dimensional shape, its physical and chemical properties, and ultimately its biological function. The main objective of this project is to investigate relationships and applications of 8000 possible tripeptides using statistical methods and computer software programs to explore the Protein Database Bank (PDB).