The tanning agent in the silk of the Japanese giant silkmoth, Dictyoploca japonica butler

Abstract

The newly spun silk of Dictyoploca japonica contains a phenol oxidase and a tanning agent tentatively identified as N-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyllactyl)DOPA. Other saturniid silks so far studied contain an additional enzyme, β-glucosidase, and the tanning agents are present as glucosides of phenolic compounds (Brunet and Coles, 1974, Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 187, 133-170). © 1985.