What Is SS-31?

SS-31, also called elamipretide, is a four-residue peptide with an unusual property for its size: it is studied for associating with the inner membrane of the mitochondrion. That targeting, together with a structure built from non-standard amino acids, is what sets it apart. This profile describes the molecule and its research setting, and does not address use.

What gives SS-31 its mitochondrial focus is where it is studied to act. The inner mitochondrial membrane is rich in cardiolipin, a distinctive lipid largely confined to that location, and SS-31 is examined for associating with this membrane environment. For a four-residue peptide, that defined cellular destination is the central fact of its profile.

This is a molecular association described in research, not a function attributed to the material. Read as such, it explains why a very small peptide attracts interest disproportionate to its size: it offers a way to probe a specific membrane and its characteristic lipid in the laboratory.

The compound is the result of designing a short sequence with a specific cellular association in mind rather than trimming it from a larger natural peptide. Its construction from defined, partly non-standard residues is what gives it both its stability and its character, and the general business of assembling such sequences is covered in solid-phase peptide synthesis.

Unlike peptides assembled only from the twenty common amino acids, SS-31 includes non-standard residues such as a D-configured amino acid and a modified tyrosine. These features resist the enzymes that act on ordinary sequences and are central to the molecule’s identity. It is supplied as a lyophilised powder, listed as SS-31 in the catalogue, and the vocabulary of residues is covered in amino acid classifications.

SS-31 draws attention as a small molecule with a defined cellular association, which makes it a tool for studying the inner mitochondrial membrane and the lipids found there. Its non-standard chemistry adds a second strand of interest, as an example of how unusual residues shape a peptide’s behaviour.

The two sources of interest reinforce one another. A defined membrane association gives researchers a reason to study the molecule, and its non-standard construction gives them a reason to expect it to survive the conditions of that study, since the unusual residues resist routine breakdown. Few peptides combine a specific cellular destination with built-in durability in so compact a form, which is what lets a four-residue sequence carry the research weight it does.

Research places SS-31 in mitochondrial study, characterising its membrane association in cell and model systems. A peptide of separate mitochondrial origin is profiled in what is MOTS-c?, and the wider range is in the research catalogue.

The membrane association and what the unusual residues contribute are taken up in the SS-31 research overview, and keeping a peptide with non-standard chemistry in good order is the subject of the SS-31 storage & handling guide.

All products are supplied strictly for laboratory research use only. Not for human or animal consumption. Not a drug, supplement, or food. Not for diagnostic or therapeutic use. The material on this page is educational and factual: it summarises areas of published scientific investigation and general laboratory practice. It is not guidance for the use of any material in humans or animals, and nothing here should be read as a claim about safety, performance, or outcomes. Where a specific product specification or safety data sheet is provided with a material, that document is the definitive reference and takes precedence over any general information given here.