Silkworms | Silk Colour

silk

Researchers in China, proposed a model to explain how different combinations of mutations give rise to the different colours of the cocoons.

  • Silk is reeled from cocoons of the silk moth and they based on feed they are classified.
  • Silk (the queen of fibres), was domesticated by humans more than 5,000 years ago in China, from the wild moth.
  • Wild silks – muga, tasar, and eri silks
    • Obtained from moth species namely Antheraea assama, Antheraea mylitta, and Samia cynthia ricini.
  • Mulberry silks – They have long, fine, and smooth threads.
  • Non-mulberry silks – They have shorter, coarser, and harder threads.
Mulberry Silk
 Ancestral SpeciesDomesticated Species
SpreadChina, Korea, Japan, & RussiaAll around the world including India
SizeSmallLarger
Fibre lengthSmallLonger, up to 900 metres
Cocoon colourBrown-yellowYellow-red, gold, flesh, pink, pale green, deep green or white.
Flying abilityExistsLost
PigmentationObserved  Lost

India is the world’s 2nd largest producer of raw silk after China and non-mulberry silks comprise about 30% of all silk produced in India.

  • Mulberry leaves have colouring chemical compounds called carotenoids and flavonoids which are absorbed by silkworms when they feed it.
  • The absorbed chemicals are transported to the silk glands, where they are bound to the silk protein.
  • Currently, domesticated cocoons possess water soluble colour that gradually fade away and so silk colours are derived from chemical compounds made by the mulberry leaves.
  • The differently coloured cocoons arise from mutations in genes responsible for the uptake, transport, and modification of carotenoids and flavonoids.

Source: The Hindu


Previous Year Question

With reference to “Gucchi” sometimes mentioned in the news, consider the following statements:
1. It is a fungus.
2. It grows in some Himalayan forest areas.
3. It is commercially cultivated in the Himalayan foothills of north-eastern India.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2022 Prelims]

(a) 1 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 1 and 2
(d) 2 and 3

Answer: (c)


Practice Question

“Muga and Eri”, sometimes in news, are

 
 
 
 

Question 1 of 1

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