BSE control: detection of gelatine-derived peptides in animal feed by mass spectrometry.
The epidemic of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is thought to have resulted from feeding scrapie-infected sheep to cattle. This has led to a ban of feeding animals with "processed animal protein"(PAP). We report a novel approach for the mass spectrometric detection of PAP contamination in animal feedstuffs by detecting gelatine, a derivative of the major animal protein collagen. A method was developed to hydrolyse gelatine standards with hydrochloric acid, followed by detection of the derived hydrolytic peptides at m/z 828, 915, 957 and 1044 by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and liquid chromatography electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS-MS). The marker peptides can be detected at concentrations of 100 ng ml(-1) gelatine in water with MALDI. The procedure was adapted to obtain a suitable peptide map of gelatine extracted from spiked feed. The ratio of signal area of the gelatine-derived peptide at m/z 1044 to the internal standard at m/z 556 is shown to relate to the total amount of gelatine present in the sample.
Fernandez Ocaña
Mireia
M
Centre for Chemical and Bioanalytical Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, UK W20 0EX. raj.patel@rhul.ac.uk
Neubert
Hendrik
H
Przyborowska
Anna
A
Parker
Richard
R
Bramley
Peter
P
Halket
John
J
Patel
Raj
R
D000821:Animal Feed / Q000032:analysis*; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D016643:Encephalopathy, Bovine Spongiform / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D005780:Gelatin / Q000032:analysis*; D006868:Hydrolysis; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods
D005780:Gelatin