Application of Cutinase in Textile Industry

T. fusca cutinase treatment has become a promising eco-friendly alternative to the chemical method in the textile industry, which was applied as a pretreatment method in wool fiber followed by protease treatment. Cutinase pretreatment could increase the efficacy of protease treatment, which was able to improve the wool fiber, such as the wettability, dyeability, and shrink-resistance. Meanwhile, mild oxidation and cutinase pretreatment exhibited more cooperative effects on wool processing compared with the individual cutinase pretreatment. In addition, this study showed that two fusion proteins, cutinase-CBMCel6A and cutinase-CBMCenA which were generated through the fusion of cutinase and carbohydrate-binding module (CBM), had potential applications in bioscouring. Cutinase-CBMs that combined with pectinase had a greater effect on cotton fiber than that of cutinase alone. Our result also showed that both cutinase-CBMs could result in the formation of carving characters on the surface of cellulose acetate fibers, whose modification effect was greater than that of cutinase alone. This study might provide a foundation for the potential application of cutinase in the textile industry.