Abstract:

In this study，the feeding method of silkworms was adopted，and the silk glands of domestic silkworms were used as bioreactors to explore the effects of carbon dots（CDs）on the fluorescence intensity and antioxidant performance of sericin protein. In this study，9 Fu×7 Xiang silkworm variety was used as the test material，and 4 treatments were set up，namely control（feeding common mulberry leaves），CDs-0.25%（feeding mulberry leaves containing 0.25% CDs），CDs-0.50%（feeding mulberry leaves containing 0.50% CDs），and CDs-0.75%（feeding mulberry leaves containing 0.75% CDs）. Starting from the second day of the fifth age，the food was continuously added for five days，and then the average growth rate，survival rate，quality indicators of silkworm cocoons，fluorescence intensity and antioxidant performance of sericin were determined. The results indicated that CDs could significantly（p<0.05）enhance the fluorescence intensity and antioxidant performance of sericin. The enhancement effect was closely related to the feeding dose，and CDs did not have an adverse effect on the growth of silkworms or the yield of silk. Under ultraviolet light，sericins from silkworms feeded with CDs showed a native bright blue fluorescence，especially in the CDs-0.5% group and the CDs-0.75% group. The antioxidant performance of sericin in the CDs-0.75% group was the strongest，at 19.16 U·mg^-1，which was 86.56% higher than that in the control group（10.27 U·mg^-1），indicating that feeding silkworms with mulberry leaves containing 0.75% CDs can enhance the fluorescence intensity and antioxidant performance of sericin from silkworms. The results of this study provide a theoretical reference for the high-quality production and application of sericin.

Key words: sericin, fluorescence intensity, antioxidant property, feeding method