Identification and characterization of molecular species of collagen in fish skin

Pepsin-solubilized collagen (PSC) prepared from the skin of 3 fish species-common horse mackerel, yellow sea bream, and tiger puffer-were separated into 2 fractions, major and minor, by ammonium sulfate precipitation. These collagen fractions were further purified by phosphocellulose column chromatography. From the results of SDS-PAGE, peptide mapping, and amino-acid analysis, the purified major and minor collagens were identified to be type I and V collagens, respectively, These results suggest that type V collagen might be widely present in fish skin as a minor collagen.