Shao Zhengzhong, Vollrath Fritz
Department of Macromolecular Science and Key Laboratory of Polymer Engineering of Education Ministry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
Nature. 2002 Aug 15;418(6899):741. doi: 10.1038/418741a.
Commercial silkworm silk is presumed to be much weaker and less extensible than spider dragline silk, which has been hailed as a 'super-fibre'. But we show here that the mechanical properties of silkworm silks can approach those of spider dragline silk when reeled under controlled conditions. We suggest that silkworms might be able to produce threads that compare well with spider silk by changing their spinning habits, rather than by having their silk genes altered.
商业蚕丝一般被认为比被誉为“超级纤维”的蜘蛛牵引丝更脆弱、延展性更差。但我们在此表明，在受控条件下缫丝时，蚕丝的机械性能可以接近蜘蛛牵引丝。我们认为，家蚕或许能够通过改变其吐丝习惯来生产出与蜘蛛丝相媲美的丝线，而非通过改变其丝基因。
