The Interaction Between High- and Low-Sulphur Proteins Extracted from $-Keratin$

Abstract

Wool and many mammalian keratins consist of two classes of proteins, one which is higher in sulphur content than the Parent keratin and is of basic character in the unmodified keratin and one which is lower in sulphur content and is acidic in character (Alexander and Earland 1950; Corfield, Robson, and Skinner 1958; Gillespie and Simmonds 1960). In the intact fibre the low-sulphur proteins are thought to occur in the microfibrils and the high-sulphur proteins in the matrix, and the two are probably linked together by disulphide bonds (Birbeck and Mercer 1957; Rogers 1959).