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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
Sec. Biomaterials
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2024.1466757

Functionalization of silk with actinomycins from Streptomyces anulatus BV365 for biomedical applications

Provisionally accepted
Tatjana Ilic-Tomic Tatjana Ilic-Tomic 1*Ana Kramar Ana Kramar 2,3Mirjana Kostic Mirjana Kostic 2Sandra Vojnovic Sandra Vojnovic 1Jelena Milovanovic Jelena Milovanovic 1Milos Petkovic Milos Petkovic 4Paul M. D'agostino Paul M. D'agostino 5,6Tobias A. Gulder Tobias A. Gulder 5,6Jasmina Nikodinovic-Runic Jasmina Nikodinovic-Runic 1
  • 1 Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
  • 2 Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
  • 3 Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Paterna, Valencia, Spain
  • 4 Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
  • 5 Helmholtz-Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Saarbrücken, Saarland, Germany
  • 6 Technical University Dresden, Dresden, Lower Saxony, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Silk, traditionally acclaimed as the "queen of fiber", has been widely used thanks to its brilliant performance such as gentleness, smoothness and comfortableness. Owing to its mechanical characteristics and biocompatibility silk has a definitive role in biomedical applications, both as fibroin and fabric. In this work, the simultaneous dyeing and functionalization of silk fabric with pigments from Streptomyces anulatus BV365 were investigated. This strain produced high amounts of orange extracellular pigments on mannitol-soy flour agar, identified as actinomycin D, C2 and C3. The application of purified actinomycins in the dyeing of multifiber fabric was assessed. Actinomycins exhibited a high affinity towards protein fibers (silk and wool), but washing durability was maintained only with silk. Acidic condition (pH5) and high temperature (65 ºC) facilitated the silk dyeing. The morphologies and chemical components of the treated silk fabrics were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results showed the pigments bind to the silk through interaction with the carbonyl group in silk fibroin rendering the functionalized, yet surface that does not cause skin irritation. The treated silk exhibited a remarkable antibacterial effect, while the biocompatibility test performed with 3D-reconstructed human epidermis model indicated safe biological properties, paving the way for future application of this material in medicine.

    Keywords: silk, antimicrobial, Streptomyces, Actinomycins, Nonactin, functional biomaterials, biocompatibility, anticancer

    Received: 18 Jul 2024; Accepted: 05 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ilic-Tomic, Kramar, Kostic, Vojnovic, Milovanovic, Petkovic, D'agostino, Gulder and Nikodinovic-Runic. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Tatjana Ilic-Tomic, Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.