Abstract
THE composition of collagen is known to vary between species and between different tissue sources of the same animal1. The amino-acid hydroxyproline is a characteristic amino-acid of collagen since it is found, to a limited extent, in only one other protein, elastin. The hydroxyproline content of collagen and gelatine isolated from fish is reported to vary from 9.2 to 10.3 per cent, whereas collagen and gelatine from mammalian sources vary from 13.0 to 14.4 per cent (by weight)2. While studying collagen from various mammalian sources, we determined the amino-acid content of collagen from the oral cavity of the sperm whale (Physeter catodon) for comparison with known mammalian and whale-skin values.
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SUMMERS, G., CLAYCOMB, C. Amino-acid Composition of Collagen isolated from the Oral Cavity of the Sperm Whale. Nature 206, 1046–1047 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1038/2061046a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2061046a0
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