Collagen Peptide Barcoding
Definition
Species identification from trypsin-digested collagen analysed by mass spectrometry. Peptide sequences differ between species at diagnostic positions that survive tanning and heat better than DNA.
- Analyte
- Trypsin-digested collagen peptides
- Instrument
- Mass spectrometry
- Advantage
- Survives tanning and heat better than DNA
- Application
- Species identification of processed wildlife products
Common questions
Why is collagen peptide analysis used when DNA testing fails?+
Tanning, heavy heating, and other processing steps used on leather, bone, or gelatin products degrade DNA far more severely than they degrade the structural protein collagen, so a sample too damaged for DNA barcoding can still yield a diagnostic peptide mass spectrum.
What products is collagen peptide barcoding typically applied to?+
It is used on processed items such as leather goods, bone or horn products, and gelatin, where the manufacturing process has destroyed most amplifiable DNA but left enough intact collagen for species-diagnostic peptide sequences to be recovered by mass spectrometry.
Related terms
- DNA Fragmentation
- Physical breakage of the DNA backbone into short pieces. In degraded samples the average fragment length may be 50-200 bp, making long...
- Library Preparation (aDNA)
- Enzymatic end-repair, adapter ligation, and amplification of all DNA fragments in a sample regardless of length, used in ancient-DNA and degraded-sample workflows....
- Metagenomics
- The direct sequencing of all DNA extracted from an environmental sample, bypassing the need to culture individual organisms. It produces a community-wide...
- PCR Inhibitor
- A co-extracted substance that interferes with Taq polymerase activity or primer annealing. Common inhibitors in forensic samples include haemoglobin (from blood on...
- Short-Amplicon Strategy
- A PCR design that targets the shortest possible fragment length: often 80-150 bp: within a diagnostic locus such as COI. Shorter targets...