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On the Routines of Wild‐Type Silk Fibroin Processing Toward Silk‐Inspired Materials: A Review
Author(s) -
Volkov Vadim,
Ferreira Ana V.,
CavacoPaulo Artur
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
macromolecular materials and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.913
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1439-2054
pISSN - 1438-7492
DOI - 10.1002/mame.201500179
Subject(s) - fibroin , silk , bombyx mori , materials science , workflow , polymer science , sericin , biochemical engineering , nanotechnology , computer science , engineering , composite material , biology , biochemistry , database , gene
For years, silk fibroin of a domestic silkworm, Bombyx mori , has been recognized as a valuable material and extensively used. In the last decades, new application fields are emerging for this versatile material. Those final, specific applications of silk dictate the way it has been processed in industry and research. This review focuses on the description of various approaches for silk downstream processing in a laboratory scale, that fall within several categories. The detailed description of workflow possibilities from the naturally found material to a finally formulated product is presented. Considerable attention is given to (bio‐) chemical approaches of silk fibroin transformation, particularly, to its enzyme‐driven modifications. The focus of the current literature survey is exclusively on the methods applied in research and not industry.