Tough and Functional Cross-linked Bioplastics from Sheep Wool Keratin

Producing Keratin Hydrolysates from Sheep Wool

Manuscript describes producing keratin hydrolysate from sheep wool through two-stage technology whose principle consists in first having wool processed in an alkaline environment during the first stage, and then effecting hydrolysis in the second stage through the action of proteolytic enzyme. Experiments were planned in accordance with factor schemes of 23 types in which factors under study we...

Wool Keratin-Associated Protein Genes in Sheep—A Review

The importance of sheep's wool in making textiles has inspired extensive research into its structure and the underlying genetics since the 1960s. Wool keratin-associated proteins (KAPs) are a key structural component of the wool fibre. The characterisation of the genes encoding these proteins has progressed rapidly with advances in the nucleotide and protein sequencing. This review describes ou...

Medieval Sheep and Wool

I 'N THE PAPER I wrote twenty years ago on the origins of British breeds of sheep, I .attempted to integrate new evidence from archaeology with older documentary evidence.' Medieval archaeology was in its infancy, and the bone remains from sheep gave little information. Illustrations in illuminated manuscripts and later paintings gave better evidence than records. But the most striking new and ...

Mechanically Tough Pluronic F127/Laponite Nanocomposite Hydrogels from Covalently and Physically Cross-Linked Networks

Self-organization of keratin intermediate filaments into cross-linked networks

Keratins, the largest subgroup of intermediate filament (IF) proteins, form a network of 10-nm filaments built from type I/II heterodimers in epithelial cells. A major function of keratin IFs is to protect epithelial cells from mechanical stress. Like filamentous actin, keratin IFs must be cross-linked in vitro to achieve the high level of mechanical resilience characteristic of live cells. Ker...