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past feature
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Mass Fingerprints
Could Tackle Trade in Illegal Furs
Scientists
at Saarland University in Germany have
proposed the use of mass spectrometry to
characterise animal hair that may help to
tackle the trade in illegal fur.
Klaus Hollemeyer and colleagues treated
hair strands with trypsin, a digestive
enzyme that strips protein fragments from
the strands. These fragments were then
analyzed in the mass spectrometer which
generates a spectrum of the protein
fragments based on their mass using
matrix-assisted laser desorption
ionization mass spectrometry to give a
unique fingerprint pattern.
At present, the way customs officers
identify that a particular fur is illegal
is by sight. Hollemeyer hopes to automate
his technique so that it can be used by
customs officers to monitor bulk freight
shipments. The technique may also be
applied to bird feathers, amphibian scales
and mammal horns and hooves subject to the
complexity of samples extracted from these
materials.
Franz Hillenkamp of the University of
Münster in Germany, the co-inventor
of MALDI, reports that mass fingerprinting
could also be applied in quality control,
looking out for counterfeit items being
passed off as branded luxuries from
non-endangered species.
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