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Enzymatic processing of protein-based fibers

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Abstract

Wool and silk are major protein fiber materials used by the textile industry. Fiber protein structure-function relationships are briefly described here, and the major enzymatic processing routes for textiles and other novel applications are deeply reviewed. Fiber biomodification is described here with various classes of enzymes such as protease, transglutaminase, tyrosinase, and laccase. It is expected that the reader will get a perspective on the research done as a basis for new applications in other areas such as cosmetics and pharma.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21274055,51373071, 31201134 and 31470509), the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-12-0883), the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT1135), the Jiangsu Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (BK2012112), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (JUSRP51312B).

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Science and Technology of Eco-Textile, Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, 214122, China

    Jiajia Fu, Jing Su, Ping Wang, Yuanyuan Yu, Qiang Wang & Artur Cavaco-Paulo

  2. Centre of Biological Engineering (CEB), University of Minho, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal

    Artur Cavaco-Paulo

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  1. Jiajia Fu
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  2. Jing Su
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  3. Ping Wang
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  4. Yuanyuan Yu
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  5. Qiang Wang
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  6. Artur Cavaco-Paulo
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Correspondence to Qiang Wang or Artur Cavaco-Paulo.

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Jiajia Fu and Jing Su contributed equally to this work.

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Fu, J., Su, J., Wang, P. et al. Enzymatic processing of protein-based fibers. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 99, 10387–10397 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-015-6970-x

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