Читать книгу Biomolecules from Natural Sources - Группа авторов - Страница 59

Silk is a polymer made from the fine threads produced by certain insect larvae. Silk was traditionally known to be produced from the silk worm [125]. Silk is, by nature, a protein biopolymer produced by polymer producer organisms. Examples of silk producers are spiders, silkworms [126], mites [127], scorpions and flies [128]. There is a rise in interest in the silk produced by spiders [129]. Spider silk is an interesting biomaterial, elastic and strong that is comparable to the best fibers synthetized by new technology in terms of mechanical properties. It is also a biodegradable material and environmentally safe. Because of the limited amount of spider silk, silk fibroin as a natural polymer produced by silkworms is a good alternative. Sericin and fibroin are the major components of it. Fibroin, a fibrous protein creating the silk core, is composed of a fibroin light chain, fibroin heavy chain and fibrohexamerin. Excellent mechanical properties, biocompatibility and slow degradability make this material interesting.