A peptide is a small protein with 50 amino acids or fewer. Unlike larger proteins, peptides act as signaling molecules that trigger specific responses at the cellular level, essentially serving as the body's chemical messengers.
Explain what a peptide is. Peptide's just another word for small protein. So by definition, proteins we know are made up of amino acids. So amino acids, the building blocks of protein, and peptides are 50 amino acids or fewer. You have proteins in your body that are hundreds, if not thousands, of amino acids long, and they're all folded up into little origami shapes. So peptides are, generally speaking, when we're talking about peptides, they're fragments of those proteins, and it's kind of like they're part of the active component. And so they've been isolated and identified as signaling molecules in the body. And so they initiate certain chemical or structural responses at a cellular level in the body.
