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The silk protein, sericin, protects against cell death caused by acute serum deprivation in insect cell culture

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Abstract

Sericin is the silk protein that covers fibroin fibers and functions as a `glue' in the cocoons of silkworms, and its most abundant component, Ser1, contains repeats of Ser- and Thr-rich 38 amino acid residues. The viability of Sf9 insect cells was 20, 57 and 49% on the fifth day and 41, 91 and 70% on the ninth day after serum deprivation in the presence of no additives, 3000 μg sericin hydrolysate and 350 μg SerD (the peptide containing the two repetitive units) ml−1, respectively. Thus, the sericin samples were useful in preventing cell death and promoting cellular growth after acute serum deprivation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioscience, Faculty of Biotechnology, Fukui Prefectural University, 4-1-1 Kenjojima, Matsuoka-cho, Yoshida-gun, Fukui, 910-1195, Japan

    Masakazu Takahashi, Hiroshi Takagi & Shigeru Nakamori

  2. Technology Department, Seiren Co., Ltd., 1-10-1 Keya, Fukui, 918-8560, Japan

    Kazuhisa Tsujimoto & Hideyuki Yamada

Authors
  1. Masakazu Takahashi
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  2. Kazuhisa Tsujimoto
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  3. Hideyuki Yamada
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  4. Hiroshi Takagi
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  5. Shigeru Nakamori
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Correspondence to Masakazu Takahashi.

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Takahashi, M., Tsujimoto, K., Yamada, H. et al. The silk protein, sericin, protects against cell death caused by acute serum deprivation in insect cell culture. Biotechnology Letters 25, 1805–1809 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026284620236

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026284620236

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