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Updated: Mar 28, 2026
Preparation of Keratin Hydrolysate from Chicken Feathers and Its Application in Cosmetics
Published on: November 27, 2017
Identification and characterization of a novel antioxidant peptide from feather keratin hydrolysate
Min-Yuan Wan1, Ge Dong1, Bin-Qing Yang1
1Key Laboratory for Bio-Resources and Eco-Environment of Ministry of Education, Sichuan Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, 29 Wangjiang Road, Chengdu, 610064, Sichuan, People's Republic of China.
Objectives:
To improve the potential value of feather, which is a valuable protein resource, we have separated and identified antioxidant peptide(s) from feather hydrolysate.
Results:
Feather hydrolysate was prepared by fermentation with Bacillus subtilis S1-4. Antioxidative peptides were separated by sequential acid precipitation, cation exchange, and reversed-phase fast performance liquid chromatography. Finally, a peptide with antioxidative activity was identified as Ser-Asn-Leu-Cys-Arg-Pro-Cys-Gly by MALDI time-of-flight (TOF)/TOF analysis, and determined to represent a portion of feather keratin near its N-terminal. A synthesized peptide with the same sequence was used to characterize its antioxidative properties, including scavenging free radicals, reducing power, and Fe(2+) chelation. In terms of the peptide's amino acid composition, the antioxidative activity might be mainly attributed to Cys and other amino acid residues.
Conclusion:
Feather keratin is a good source for the quantitative preparation of antioxidative peptides.
