We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
An evaluation of the effect of hydrofluoric acid (HF) treatment on keratins.
- Authors
Zhao, Tao; Pan, Yanhong
- Abstract
Hydrofluoric acid (HF) is commonly used in geological and paleontological research to extract organic fossils for morphological and chemical studies. However, during HF treatment, organic matter can also be altered, which raises concerns that HF‐treated organic matter may not be representative of the original organic matter. To provide reference data for protein studies on fossils, herein, we use Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to investigate the effect of HF (21.3 M) treatment on keratins, with treatment durations ranging from 2 to 48 h. Results show that the FTIR spectra of HF‐treated samples are overall similar to that of the untreated sample, while curve fitting shows that HF treatment has led to alteration of the secondary structure in all the HF‐treated samples and the effect is time‐dependent. The 2‐ and 4‐h treatment mainly reduced the content of the random coils, α‐helix, and intermolecular β‐sheet. From 8h onwards, the content of random coils greatly increased at the expense of other structures. Our results imply that for protein detection in fossils using FTIR spectroscopy, the negative effect of HF treatment is not substantial, as the bands characteristic of proteins, that is, amide A, amide B, amide I, amide II, and amide III, are still present after the 48‐h treatment. If the target is a secondary structure, the effect of HF treatment should be considered. When HF treatment is necessary, limiting the treatment duration to less than 4h may be a choice. Research Highlights: We evaluated the effect of different durations of hydrofluoric acid (HF) treatment on keratins.We show that HF treatment can alter the secondary structure of keratins.
- Subjects
KERATIN; HYDROFLUORIC acid; FOURIER transform infrared spectroscopy; CURVE fitting; TREATMENT duration; FOURIER transforms; ORGANIC compounds
- Publication
Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular & Developmental Evolution, 2023, Vol 340, Issue 5, p377
- ISSN
1552-5007
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/jez.b.23173