Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Genetically variant peptides (GVPs) derived from human hair proteins have been studied as evidence for forensic human identification. For this purpose, trypsin is generally routinely used as the protease for peptide generation. We hypothesized that the use of different proteases can expand sequence coverage in the hair proteome and, therefore, increase the chance of a variant peptide being identified and confirm the findings from tryptic digests. Since keratins and keratin-associated proteins are the main components of the hair proteome, we examined several alternative enzymes other than trypsin, including keratinase, chymotrypsin, and Glu-C. We found that the use of multiple enzymes led to enhanced GVP profiling and, therefore, an increase in the confidence of GVP identification.
Source: ACS Omega
Authors: Zheng Zhang, William E. Wallace, Guanghui Wang, Meghan C. Burke, Stephen E. Stein
Institution: National Institute of Standards and Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,935
OpenAlex ID: W7166544309