High-sulphur proteins in mammalian keratins: a possible aid in classification

Abstract

A study has been made of the high-sulphur proteins isolated from keratins to determine the value of using their electrophoretic patterns as an aid in studying the classification of closely related animals. The high-sulphur proteins of 35 different species covering nine orders of the class Mammalia have been examined after electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gels at pH 2.6. From this study it can be concluded that keratin samples which have different electrophoretic patterns can be tentatively judged as coming from animals of different species, although identical patterns do not necessarily mean identity of animal source. The ease of keratin sampling and of electrophoretic analysis could make the method useful as an aid in classification.