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Updated: Jun 13, 2025

Measuring Volatile and Non-volatile Antifungal Activity of Biocontrol Products
Published on: December 5, 2020
Silk protein: A novel antifungal and edible coating for strawberry preservation
Yan Wang1, Weijie Wu1, Ruiling Liu1
1Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Intelligent Food Logistic and Processing, Key laboratory of post-harvest handling of fruits, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Key laboratory of postharvest preservation and processing of fruits and vegetables, China National Light Industry, Food Science Institute, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, China.
Abstract:
In this study, an antimicrobial component, silk protease inhibitors (SPIs), was extracted from discarded silkworm cocoons, and a suitable degumming method for obtaining regenerated silk fibroin (SF) was screened. An edible antimicrobial coating was prepared by mixing SPIs with SF for evaluation of potential in strawberries preservation. Results demonstrated that SPI could effectively inhibit mycelial growth and spore germination. The alkaline protease method exhibited the highest degumming rate of 24.4 %. The SPI-SF coating exhibited excellent mechanical properties, high water vapor permeability, and easy washability. Within 10 days, seedlings treatment with SPI-SF coating solution showed a germination rate of 94.3 %, and exhibited good biocompatibility with HepG2 cells. Coating with SPI-SF led to increase in the storage period of strawberries to 10-14 days, concurrent with considerable reduction in decay rate at room temperature. Conclusively, this study demonstrates the potential of SPI-SF edible coating in strawberries preservation.

