The Keratin Proteins of Wool, Horn and Hoof from Sheep

Abstract

This paper compares the constituent low-sulphur and high-sulphur proteins isolated from the three hard keratins-wool, horn and hoof-produced by the sheep, In general the low-sulphur protein fractions from the three keratins are similar in composition and range of molecular sizes. The same can be said for the high-sulphur protein fractions. However the relative proportions of the component proteins within each fraction vary from keratin to keratin, Hom and hoof are more similar to each other than they are to wool and, compared to wool, they contain less total high-sulphur protein and a smaller proportion of those high-sulphur protein fractions of highest sulphur content. There is a changed distribution of protein components in the low-sulphur protein fractions, and one of the wool components is apparently missing from horn and hoof.