Aparna, Y. and Kumari, M.D. and Prasanthi, S. and Jha, A. and Satyavathi, V.V. and Anitha, M. (2017) Effect of polyamines on mechanical and structural properties ofBombyx morisilk. Biopolymers, 107 (1). pp. 20-27. ISSN 0006-3525

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Abstract

Silkworm, Bombyx mori belongs to the Lepidoptera family. The silk produced from this insect, mulberry silk, gained lot of importance as a fabric. Silk is being exploited as a biomaterial due to its surprising strength and biocompatibility. Polyamines are important cell growth regulators. In the present work the effect of treatment of polyamines, putrescine, spermidine and spermine on the quantity and quality of silk produced was assessed. Results showed that exogenous feeding of spermidine at a concentration of 50 µm increased fiber length significantly. Analysis by FTIR on the properties of silk obtained from spermidine treated silkworms revealed an increase in percentage of absorption with no difference in peak positions of amide I and amide III groups. Scanning electron microscopy revealed an increase in diameter of silk. Further, analysis at molecular level showed an increase in fibroin expression in spermidine treated silk glands. However, the spermidine treatment showed no significant difference with respect to fibroin to sericin ratio per unit weight of cocoon, silk tenacity and percent elongation. Thus the present results show that polyamine treatment would influence silk quality at structural, mechanical and molecular level in the Bombyx mori which can be exploited in silk biomaterial production. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Item Type:	Article
Depositing User:	Users 2 not found.
Date Deposited:	10 Sep 2016 16:54
Last Modified:	04 Nov 2016 07:59
URI:	http://cdfd.sciencecentral.in/id/eprint/748

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