Association of enzyme inhibition with methods of museum skin preparation

Enzyme inhibition is commonly encountered when using molecular biological techniques on museum-prepared animal skin samples, and this problem is exacerbated by a lack of information on how particular skins have been prepared for preservation. This report: (i) demonstrates that while some methods of museum preparation inhibit both proteinase K digestion and the PCR, others do not; (ii) describes a change in buffer conditions that reduces proteinase K enzyme inhibition during tissue digestion: and (iii) uses electron-dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDXA) to show that the preparation methods for museum-preserved skin are often more complex than the treatment description provided with samples and also suggests that some of these descriptions are incorrect.