polypeptiden.
/ˌpɒlɪˈpɛptʌɪd/, U.S. /ˌpɑliˈpɛpˌtaɪd/ Biochemistry.
An organic polymer consisting of a large number of amino acids linked together in a chain, several of which can be linked further to form protein molecules. Cf. oligopeptide n. at oligo- comb. form .
ΚΠ
1903 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. 84 i. 466 These acid chlorides combine easily with glycylglycine esters and similar compounds to form chains of amino-acids joined together by an anhydride linking. Such are termed polypeptides.
1949 H. W. Florey et al. Antibiotics I. i. 38 The active preparation made from this organism..contains two antibiotics, gramicidin and tyrocidine, both crystalline polypeptides.
1974 J. B. Finean et al. Membranes & Cellular Functions iii. 55 The venoms of several snakes contain specific neurotoxins... These include α-bungarotoxin, a basic polypeptide with a molecular weight of about 8,000.
2004 Nature 15 Jan. p. ix/2 Protein splicing is a chemical reaction in which an intervening polypeptide is precisely snipped out and the precursor protein rejoined.
Compounds
polypeptide chain n. = peptide chain n. at peptide n. Compounds.
ΚΠ
1923 J. Alexander Glue & Gelatin v. 80 We may, imperfectly, represent the redistribution of this in the presence of water for the polypeptide chain by [formula].
1961 Ann. Reg. 1960 401 The polypeptide chain, the backbone of the protein molecule, was found to be coiled in a helix-like spiral spring with only a space inside.
1994 New Yorker 2 May 65/1 Immunoglobulins consisted not of one long polypeptide chain, as had been assumed, but of interlinked chains of two kinds.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1903