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Besides, the cuticle-L + U lane showed a lighter blue band than that of the raw wool and cuticle-FA, indicating the cuticle-L + U was more difficult to be dissolved than cuticle-FA. Keywords: Wool fibers; cuticle isolation; keratin; l-cysteine; secondary structure; thermal stability; ; ; ; L- ; ; EN Wool fibers cuticle isolation keratin l-cysteine secondary structure thermal stability ZH L- 7714 7727 14 11/21/22 20221220 NES 221220 Introduction Wool has been widely used in the textile industry due to its excellent elasticity and heat retention property. FT-IR spectrum of the raw wool, cuticle-FA, and cuticle-L + U FTIR spectra comparison between the raw wool, cuticle-FA, and cuticle-L + U showed differences in 1200-1000 cm SP -1 sp . SDS-PAGE analysis of the raw wool (Lane 1), cuticle-FA (Lane 2), cuticle-L + U (Lane 3) Conclusion Taken together, our data demonstrated that pure and flaky-shaped cuticle cells could be effectively isolated with the L-cysteine and formic acid methods, respectively. [Extracted from the article]

Wool is a natural biopolymer with excellent biocompatibility. This dense structure makes it difficult to recycle the millions of wool textiles discarded annually. This study reports, for the first time, the regeneration of keratin using thiourea dioxide. Disulfide bonds were cleavage from the result of Raman test. FTIR, XRD and 13C-NMR tests determined that regenerated wool keratin retained protein macromolecule backbone, though the crystallinity degree and α-helix structure content decreased slightly. SDS-PAGE results demonstrated that the process contributed to an increase of low molecular weight keratin. All the results in this study indicate that thiourea dioxide is an effective solvent for the regeneration of wool keratin. The study offers a novel approach for the regeneration and recycle of other natural protein-based material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental benefits of utilizing protease as a biocatalyst for wool shrink-resist finishing have been widely recognized. However, the efficacy of individual protease treatment is unsatisfactory due to its incapability towards the outermost cuticle layer of wool fibers that contains hydrophobic fatty acids. In order to weaken the structural integrity of the highly cross-linked scales and promote the enzymatic anti-felting, sodium sulfite and tris (2-carboxyethyl) phosphine hydrochloride (TCEP) were employed in combination with papain, respectively, aiming at obtaining a low shrinkage without unacceptable fiber damages. Based on the synergistic effect of papain and TCEP, the edges of wool scales were slightly destroyed by the reduction of disulfide bonds, accompanied by enzymatic hydrolysis of the keratin component. Through the controlled reduction and hydrolysis of wool scales, satisfactory anti-felting result was achieved without causing severe damage to the fiber interiors. In the presence of 0.25 g/L TCEP and 25 U/mL papain, the area shrinkage of wool fabric decreased to approximately 6 %, with a low strength loss of less than 8 %. Meanwhile, the dyeing behavior of the wool fabric under low-temperature conditions was dramatically improved, leading to decreased energy consumption during production. The present work provides an alternative for eco-friendly finishing of wool fabrics, which can be applied commercially. • A facile strategy was proposed to achieve anti-felting of wool through the combined use of papain and reductant. • Synergistic effect of reductant and papain endows wool with satisfactory anti-felting property and less fiber damage. • A felting shrinkage of less than 6 % was obtained while treating with 25 U/mL of papain and 0.25 g/L of TCEP. • Low-temperature dyeing and less energy consumption were realized after the combined anti-felting finishing of wool fabric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• "One-enzyme double catalysis" strategy for functionalizing wool was developed. • Laccase/TEMPO mediated oxidization and multi-crosslink between chitosan and wool. • The enzymatic mechanism between chitosan and wool was studied using their models. • Anti-felting property, wettability and dyeability of wool were greatly improved. Chitosan is considered as a green additive with broad application prospects due to its advantages like biodegradability and antibacterial ability. Herein, we proposed an effective chitosan grafting approach via "one-enzyme double catalysis" strategy which aimed at functionalizing wool fibers to achieve bidirectionally multiple covalent crosslinking between chitosan and wool by laccase/2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) mediated oxidization. The mechanism was studied using models of wool and chitosan in terms of UV, FTIR, GPC and MALDI-TOF MS. Meanwhile, the structure and morphology of wool fiber grafted with chitosan were characterized by ATR-FTIR and SEM. Compared with untreated wool, this efficient method can significantly improve the dimensional stability to felting (2.53 %), wettability and dyeability of wool fabric, and can also compensate for the strength loss caused by the pretreatment. The present work provides a useful path for the enzymatic modification of keratin-containing fibers like wool using chitosan and other natural biopolymers with similar structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]