Abstract
When an aqueous solution of the fibroin of Bombyxmori is acted upon by chymotrypsin, a precipitate is formed1 through the specific action of the enzyme on the α-carboxyl groups of the tyrosine residues. This precipitate contains 62 per cent of the total nitrogen and represents 58 per cent of the total weight of the protein. It consists almost entirely of glycine, alanine, and serine, together with a little tyrosine, the molar ratios of glycine to alanine to serine being 3 to 2 to 1. The fraction has a high degree of crystalline order as shown by X-rays, and a molecular weight of about 4,000.
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References
Drucker, B., Hainsworth, R., and Smith, S. G., Shirley Inst. Mem., 26, 191 (1953); J. Text. Inst., 44, T. 420 (1953).
Lucas, F., and Smith, S. G. (unpublished).
Shaw, J. T. B., and Smith, S. G., J. Text. Inst., 45, T. 939 (1954).
Desnuelle, P., and Bonjour, G., Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 7, 451 (1951).
Elliott, D. F., Biochem. J., 50, 542 (1952).
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LUCAS, F., SHAW, J. & SMITH, S. Amino-Acid Sequence in a Fraction of Bombyx Silk Fibroin. Nature 178, 861 (1956). https://doi.org/10.1038/178861a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/178861a0
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