Peptides are short chains of amino acids linked by covalent chemical bonds. Covalent bonds are formed by linking the carboxyl group of one amino acid to the amino group of the other. Despite recent advances in peptide technology that have made it possible to synthesize peptides 150 amino acids in length, peptides typically differ in length from proteins. Biological peptides consist of approximately 50 amino acids.
Blocking peptides are peptides that specifically bind to a target antibody, preventing antibody binding. This is based on the fact that the peptide is similar to the epitope recognized by the antibody. Antibodies bound to the blocking peptide no longer bind to the epitope in the protein. This mechanism is useful when non-specific binding is required, for example in Western blotting (immunoblotting) and immunohistochemistry (IHC).
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