Abstract

                                Sericin is asilk wormsecreting protein occurring naturallyas a silk cocoon.Itis a typical example of a natural core-shell structure. Silk cocoon constitutesabout 75% of core silk fibroin (SF) and 25% of shell silk sericin (SS). Silkfibroin has a potential application in the textile and biomedical field due toits inherent mechanical strength. Sericin is a hydrophilic protein that hasa greater affinity with silk fibroin;hence it binds with silk fibroin coaxially toprotectpupa from predators, temperature variations, moisture, mechanicalabrasions, etc.. During the commercial production of raw silk fiber, sericin willbe degummed by treating the cocoon with hot water at high temperaturesand discharged as wastewater after extraction of silk fibroin from cocoons.Sericin protein posse’s potential application in the field of cosmetics asan additive in skin moisturizer, shampoo, anti-wrinkle creams due to thepresence of hydroxyl amino acids, wound healing, promoting cell growthand differentiation in pharmaceutical industries due to its biological originwithout causing an undesirable immunological response. Sericin proteinwas extracted from discharge water collected from the silk industry waspurified and characterized using SDS-PAGE, FTIR, CD, SEM, DSC & TG-DTAwas reported.

Key words : Sericin; Silk fibroin; Silk cocoon; Circular dichroism; Scanning electron microscope;Spray drying