The Blocked Amino-Terminal Peptide of Feather Keratin

Abstract

Proteins extracted from reduced and carboxymethylated feather keratins (SCM-keratins) have been studied by Harrap and Woods (1964a, 1964b, 1967). They have demonstrated the presence of electrophoretic heterogeneity amongst the proteins and have obtained a molecular weight of approximately 11,000 in agreement with earlier work of Woodin (1954). There was no indication of marked heterogeneity with respect to size. Using acid hydrolysis and determination of acetic acid produced they found an acetyl content of 1 ·30 molesj104 g in the rachis off owl feathers. These were thought to be attached to primary amino groups since there were no O-acetyl groups. In the present paper the isolation and characterization of the predominant, and probably sole, amino-terminal tripeptide from goose feather calamus is described. Goose feather calamus was chosen because its extracted proteins had one of the simplest electrophoretic patterns of proteins from the feathers of a number of species (Harrap and Woods 1967).