Cocoonase is a trypsin

Trypsin

Trypsin is a serine protease found in the digestive system of many vertebrates, where it hydrolyses proteins. Trypsin is produced in the pancreas as the inactive proenzyme trypsinogen. Trypsin cleaves peptide chains mainly at the carboxyl side of the amino acids lysine or arginine, except when...

-like proteolytic enzyme

Enzyme

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...

 produced by silkworms (of both Bombyx

Bombyx

Bombyx is the genus of true silkmoths or mulberry silkmoths of the family Bombycidae. It traditionally contained two species as well as one natural hybrid and one human-dependent hybrid.-Species:* Bombyx horsfieldi...

and Antheraea

Antheraea

Antheraea is a moth genus belonging to the family Saturniidae. Several species of this genus have caterpillars which produce wild silk of commercial importance...

species) as they near the final stages of their metamorphosis

Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation...

. It is produced by cells in the proboscis

Proboscis

A proboscis is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In simpler terms, a proboscis is the straw-like mouth found in several varieties of species.-Etymology:...

 and exuded onto the galeae. Its function is to weaken the fibers of the cocoon, thereby facilitating the emergence of the adult insect.

It was discovered by Carroll Williams

Carroll Williams

Carroll Milton Williams was an American zoologist known for his work in entomology and developmental biology -- in particular, metamorphosis in insects...

.

External links

• Cocoonase of Bombyx mori at UniProt
  UniProt
  UniProt is a comprehensive, high-quality and freely accessible database of protein sequence and functional information, many of which are derived from genome sequencing projects...
  
  
• Cocoonase-assisted protein of Bombyx mori at UniProt
  UniProt
  UniProt is a comprehensive, high-quality and freely accessible database of protein sequence and functional information, many of which are derived from genome sequencing projects...