Amino acid sequencing of animal glues remained in cultural properties by proteomic techniques

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25750104
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Cultural assets study and museology
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: KAWAHARA KAZUKI 大阪大学, 薬学研究科(研究院), 助教 (60585058)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 考古学 / 膠 / コラーゲン / プロテオミクス / 質量分析

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Animal glue, mainly constituted of collagen, is one of the oldest materials used as the adhesive and binder of cultural properties. Identifying its animal origin therefore has potential importance in the studies concerning the animal use in ancient culture and technology. However, the possible degradation undergoing for hundreds and thousands of years in protein molecules as well as overwhelmingly large number of contaminants originated from keratins and microbial proteins made it very difficult to obtain precise information of archaeological interest. In this research project, I employed nano-liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry and revealed that the methodology has proved effective to identify animal glues in archaeological materials even if they are heavily degraded. The peptides derived from collagens were successfully identified in archaeological specimens including Egyptian wall paintings (2,400 B.C.) and Egyptian Romano portraits (180-200 A.D.).

Free Research Field

蛋白質科学