Species identification of silks by protein mass spectrometry reveals evidence of wild silk use in antiquity.

ABSTRACT: Silk has been a luxurious commodity throughout modern human history and sericulture has played an important role in ancient global trade as well as technological and cultural developments. Archaeological findings suggest that prior to domestication of the mulberry silkworm (Bombyx mori) silks were obtained from a range of silk-producing moth species with regional specificity. However, investigating the origins of sericulture is difficult as classification of silks by species-type has proved technically challenging. We therefore investigated a range of methods for solubilising modern and archaeological silks and developed a mass spectrometry-based proteomics method that was able to successfully differentiate modern Bombyx, Antheraea, and Samia-produced silks down to the species level. We su

SUBMITTER: Lee B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8931077 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature