Analytical Sciences

Identification of Ancient Silk Using an Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay and Immuno-fluorescence Microscopy

Miaomiao LIU,* Jun XIE,** Hailing ZHENG,*** Yang ZHOU,*** Bing WANG,* and Zhiwen HU**

*Key Laboratory of Advanced Textile Materials and Manufacturing Technology, Ministry of Education, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, P. R. China
**Institute of Textile Conservation, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, P. R. China
***Key Scientific Research Base of Textile Conservation, State Administration for Cultural Heritage, China National Silk Museum, Hangzhou 310002, P. R. China

The identification of ancient silk is of great importance in both archaeology and academia. In the present work, a specific antibody having the characteristics of low cost, easy operation and extensive applicability was developed directly through immunizing rabbits with complete antigen (silk fibroin, SF). Then, antibody-based immunoassays, i.e. enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and immuno-fluorescence microscopy (IFM), were established and conducted in tandem to identify the corresponding protein in ancient silks. The anti-SF antibody exhibits high sensitivity and specificity for the identification of modern and ancient silks. The detection limit of the ELISA method is about 0.1 ng/mL, and no cross-reactions with other possible interference antigens have been noted. IFM makes it possible to localize target proteins in archaeological samples, and also ensure the reliability of the ELISA results. Based on these advantages, immunological techniques have the potential to become powerful analytical tools at archaeological sites and conservation science laboratories.

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