We have carried out a comparative study of the microrheol. properties of silk fibroin solns. formed from a variety of silks indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. We present the measured viscoelastic moduli of Tasar silk fibroin soln. using both a single and dual optical tweezer at 0.16% and 0.25% (w/v). The bandwidth of the measurements carried out using optical tweezers is extended down to the lower frequency regime by a video microscopy measurement. Further, we have measured the viscoelastic moduli of Eri and Muga varieties of silk fibroin solns. at a higher concn. (1.00% w/v) limiting the tool of measurement to video microscopy, as the reduced optical transparencies of these solns. at higher concn. preclude an optical tweezer based investigation. The choice of a higher concn. of fibroin soln. of the latter silk varieties is so as to enable a comparison of the shear moduli obtained from optical methods with their corresponding fiber stiffness obtained from wide angle X-ray scattering data. We report a correlation between the microstructure and microrheol. parameters of these silk varieties for the concn. of fibroin solns. studied
