Surprising strength of silkworm silk

Shao, Zhengzhong; Vollrath, Fritz

doi:10.1038/418741a

Cited by 906 publications

(725 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

711

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…1a) that has evolved to fulfill multiple functions of efficiently storing and dissipating mechanical energy [1][2][3], making it one of the toughest and most versatile materials known [2,4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular and Nanostructural Mechanisms of Deformation, Strength and Toughness of Spider Silk Fibrils

Keten²,

et al. 2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular and Nanostructural Mechanisms of Deformation, Strength and Toughness of Spider Silk Fibrils

Keten²,

et al. 2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…It is of interest to understand how silk cocoon membrane performs such activity based on their porous structure, mechanical strength, and its potential for control of the gaseous environment and temperature inside. One should try to understand, how life inside a narrow confinement of cocoon breath for so many days and the most important aspect here is to address the structure of cocoons which is optimized to function in such a manner [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbondioxide Gating in Silk Cocoon

Roy¹,

Meena²,

Kusurkar³

et al. 2012

Biointerphases

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Silk is the generic name given to the fibrous proteins spun by a number of arthropods. During metamorphosis, the larva of the silk producing arthropods excrete silk-fiber from its mouth and spun it around the body to form a protective structure called cocoon. An adult moth emerges out from the cocoon after the dormant phase (pupal phase) varying from 2 weeks to 9 months. It is intriguing how CO 2 /O 2 and ambient temperature are regulated inside the cocoon during the development of the pupa. Here we show that the cocoon membrane is asymmetric, it allows preferential gating of CO 2 from inside to outside and it regulates a physiological temperature inside the cocoon irrespective of the surrounding environment temperature. We demonstrate that under simulating CO 2 rich external environment, the CO 2 does not diffuse inside the cocoon. Whereas, when CO 2 was injected inside the cocoon, it diffuses out in 20 s, indicating gating of CO 2 from inside to outside the membrane. Removal of the calcium oxalate hydrate crystals which are naturally present on the outer surface of the cocoon affected the complete blockade of CO 2 flow from outside to inside suggesting its role to trap most of the CO 2 as hydrogen bonded bicarbonate on the surface. The weaved silk of the cocoon worked as the second barrier to prevent residual CO 2 passage. Furthermore, we show that under two extreme natural temperature regime of 5 and 50°C, a temperature of 25 and 34°C respectively were maintained inside the cocoons. Our results demonstrate, how CO 2 gating and thermoregulation helps in maintaining an ambient atmosphere inside the cocoon for the growth of pupa. Such natural architectural control of gas and temperature regulation could be helpful in developing energy saving structures and gas filters.

show abstract

“…Silk is a natural protein polymer valued for its biocompatibility, light weight, and strength [34] Processing methods for this polymer are well established for control of morphology, mechanical properties and environmental stability [35][36][37][38]. Due to these properties, silk is an excellent candidate for generating biomaterial scaffolds for engineered tissues.…”

Section: Competing Interest Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-invasive characterization of structure and morphology of silk fibroin biomaterials using non-linear microscopy

et al. 2008

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Designing biomaterial scaffolds remains a major challenge in tissue engineering. Key to this challenge is improved understanding of the relationships between the scaffold properties and its degradation kinetics, as well as the cell interactions and the promotion of new matrix deposition. Here we present the use of non-linear spectroscopic imaging as a non-invasive method to characterize not only morphological, but also structural aspects of silkworm silk fibroin-based biomaterials, relying entirely on endogenous optical contrast. We demonstrate that two photon excited fluorescence and second harmonic generation are sensitive to the hydration, overall β sheet content and molecular orientation of the sample. Thus, the functional content and high resolution afforded by these noninvasive approaches offer promise for identifying important connections between biomaterial design and functional engineered tissue development. The strategies described also have broader implications for understanding and tracking the remodeling of degradable biomaterials under dynamic conditions both in vitro and in vivo.

show abstract

Surprising strength of silkworm silk

Cited by 906 publications

References 7 publications

Molecular and Nanostructural Mechanisms of Deformation, Strength and Toughness of Spider Silk Fibrils

Molecular and Nanostructural Mechanisms of Deformation, Strength and Toughness of Spider Silk Fibrils

Carbondioxide Gating in Silk Cocoon

Non-invasive characterization of structure and morphology of silk fibroin biomaterials using non-linear microscopy

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About