The peptide found in meat
Carnosine
A two-amino-acid peptide found mainly in muscle.
- Size
- 2 amino acids (a dipeptide)
- Made of
- Beta-alanine and histidine
- Discovered
- 1900
- Found in
- Muscle and brain
The story
In 1900, Russian chemist Vladimir Gulevich was studying meat extract. He noticed it contained more nitrogen than the known ingredients could explain, so he went looking for what was missing.
With his student Semen Amiradjibi, he found a new substance and named it carnosine, from the Latin for meat. It turned out to be one of the first natural peptides ever identified.
Good to know
Carnosine is made of beta-alanine and histidine. Beta-alanine is a slightly different form of amino acid from the 20 standard ones, which made carnosine a real puzzle for early chemists.
It's found mostly in skeletal muscle and parts of the brain, and hardly at all in organs like the liver or kidneys.
Did you know?
Most bird muscle has very little carnosine. Instead it has a close cousin called anserine, named after the goose (anser in Latin).