Similarities and Differences in the Supramolecular Organization of Silkworm and Spider Silk
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- 作者：José ; Pé ; rez-Rigueiro ; Manuel Elices ; Gustavo R. Plaza ; Gustavo V. Guinea
- 刊名：Macromolecules
- 出版年：2007
- 出版时间：July 24, 2007
- 年：2007
- 卷：40
- 期：15
- 页码：5360 - 5365
- 全文大小：1445K
- 年卷期：v.40,no.15(July 24, 2007)
- ISSN：1520-5835
文摘
The characterization of silkworm and spider silk from nanometer to micrometer scale by atomicforce microscopy reveals similar design principles despite the distance of their spinning organisms in evolutionaryterms. Nanoglobules are the basic microstructural blocks in both materials, but this common microstructuraldesign is tuned to fulfill the biological function of each silk. Spider silk nanoglobules are isotropic, and its sizevaries during stretching. Silkworm silk nanoglobules are anisotropic and loosely aligned with the fiber axis. Thecombination of our results with previous data on the structure of silks at a molecular level allows a model of thesupramolecular organization of both silkworm and spider silk to be proposed. The detailed characterization ofthe microstructure of natural silks should contribute to the development and production of a new family ofbioinspired fibers.