Abstracto

Role Of Serine In The Structural Modifications From Silk I To Silk II

R.Somashekar, S.S.Mahesh

We have examined the role of serine, essentially oxygen atom belonging to serine, in the Crank-shaft structure of silk I and -pleated structure of silk II by studying the intra-and inter-weak hydrogen bonds. We observe that the presence of serine in the structural refinement does increase the crystalline order and hence the stereo-chemical energy in silk I phase making it an unstable phase which on a slight mechanical pretex, changes over to silk II modification.