A COMPARATIVE ELECTROPHORETIC ANALYSIS OF MAMMALIAN HAIR AND AVIAN FEATHER PROTEINS

An improved one-dimensional sodium dodecyl sulphate separation has all owed a detailed electrophoretic comparison of the proteins that consti tute hairs and feathers isolated from various representative samples o f mammalian, both placental and marsupial and avian species. The prote ins from various species were S-carboxymethylated using labelled (C-14 )-iodoacetic acid and detected both by Coomassie stain and fluorograph y. Proteins from mammalian species were compared with respect to their molecular masses and relative cysteine content using laser densitomet ry of both Coomassie stained gels and fluorographs of C-14 labelled ge ls. These results may be quite useful forensically as an adjunct to fi bre analysis. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.