Tropical tasar silkworm Antheraea mylitta is a wild sericigenous insect which is distributed in different geographical regions and named as different ecoraces. In the present study, we investigated the molecular characterisation and
cosmeceutical properties of
sericin extracted from different ecoraces of tasar cocoons. The surface morphology and molecular weight of cocoons were determined by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and SDS-PAGE, respectively. Characterisation of
sericin was performed by various methods such as FTIR, CHNS, TGA and
amino acid analyzer. The anti-
tyrosinase, anti-
elastase,
glutathione-S-transferase inhibition,
free radical scavenging potential and inhibition of oxidative damages were measured in tasar ecoraces
sericin. SEM images have revealed the removal of
sericin from the surface of cocoons. SDS-PAGE of
sericin depicted the presence of diverse molecular weight of
proteins. Structural determination by FTIR revealed the presence of both α-helical and β-sheet structures. Thermal properties of
sericin were studied by TGA which showed a 50%
weight loss at temperature 410 °C-430 °C. Additionally, ecoraces
sericin contains 17
amino acids in which
serine,
aspartic acid and
glycine are predominantly present (55.68-59.61%). Further, anti-
tyrosinase, anti-
elastase, inhibition of
glutathione-S-transferase activity,
free radical scavenging potential and inhibition of lipid peroxidation were also observed in ecoraces
sericin. Our findings suggest that the present study appear to be helpful in exploiting
sericin as potential
biomaterial in
cosmeceutical and allied field.