Abstract
FEATHER keratin is the outstanding protein fibre structure that still lacks an interpretation generally acceptable in any detail. It has long been known1 that its X-ray diffraction diagram is of a β-type with the strong indication that the residue-length is only about 31/10 Å. instead of the 31/10 Å. and 31/10 Å. found in β-keratin and silk fibroin, and it has corpuscular properties besides2, especially as demonstrated in the paper by Bear and Rugo3, supported also by physico-chemical studies and the finding that the unit is probably a cyclic polypeptide4. In Bear and Rugo's scheme the structure is based on a net of corpuscular units the nodes of which are at approximately (0, 0), (0, ½), (½, ¼), and (½, ¾), the plane of the net containing both the main-chain and side-chain directions. Continuing from this point and associated observations by the same authors, it is the purpose of this communication to state what we believe to be a very strong case for the structure of the corpuscles themselves. The principal steps in the argument may be summarized as follows :
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ASTBURY, W., BEIGHTON, E. Structure of Feather Keratin. Nature 191, 171–173 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1038/191171b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/191171b0
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