Work with small peptide chains may revolutionize study of enzymes, diseases

Chemists, for the first time, have created enzyme-like activity using peptides that are only seven amino acids long. The breakthrough may revolutionize the study of modern-day enzymes, whose chains of amino acids usually number in the hundreds, and of neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer's, which are usually characterized by small clumps of misshapen proteins called amyloids.