title: What to synthesize? From Emil Fischer to peptidomics.
abstract: The driving forces, incentives and strategic targets of peptide synthesis have undergone considerable evolution during the centenary following the pioneer work of Emil Fischer. In those days peptide synthesis was considered as a way of confirming the polypeptide theory of protein structure. The scientific community also expected (naively) that the synthesis would eventually lead to the creation of artificial living organisms. Only in the 1950s, when the first exact amino acid sequences were established did peptide chemistry obtain firmer ground and clearly defined targets. The total synthesis of peptide hormones and antibiotics became possible, providing valuable material for elucidating structure-functional relationships and the mechanisms of biological action. In the following years the number of peptides isolated from various biological sources grew with impressive speed and peptides became known as the most abundant, ubiquitous group of low molecular bioregulators. The design and synthesis of novel peptide based pharmaceuticals became an important area of peptide chemistry. At present we are facing the challenge of analysing the structures and bioactivities of total sets of peptides, i.e. peptidoms, present in concrete tissues or groups of cells. The results obtained along these lines at the IBCH RAS Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry are briefly considered in the review.
authors.affiliation: Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry RAS, Moscow, Russia. ivavt@mail.ibch.ru
authors.forename: Vadim T
authors.initials: VT
authors.lastname: Ivanov
authors.forename: Elena Yu
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Blishchenko
authors.forename: Olga V
authors.initials: OV
authors.lastname: Sazonova
authors.forename: Andrey A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Karelin
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000737:chemistry; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000737:chemistry; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000266:history*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D040901:Proteomics / Q000266:history / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D006454:Hemoglobins; D010455:Peptides