IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v10y2019i1d10.1038_s41467-019-09350-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A study of the extraordinarily strong and tough silk produced by bagworms

Author

Listed:
  • Taiyo Yoshioka

    (National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO))

  • Takuya Tsubota

    (National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO))

  • Kohji Tashiro

    (Toyota Technological Institute)

  • Akiya Jouraku

    (National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO))

  • Tsunenori Kameda

    (National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO))

Abstract

Global ecological damage has heightened the demand for silk as ‘a structural material made from sustainable resources’. Scientists have earnestly searched for stronger and tougher silks. Bagworm silk might be a promising candidate considering its superior capacity to dangle a heavy weight, summed up by the weights of the larva and its house. However, detailed mechanical and structural studies on bagworm silks have been lacking. Herein, we show the superior potential of the silk produced by Japan’s largest bagworm, Eumeta variegata. This bagworm silk is extraordinarily strong and tough, and its tensile deformation behaviour is quite elastic. The outstanding mechanical property is the result of a highly ordered hierarchical structure, which remains unchanged until fracture. Our findings demonstrate how the hierarchical structure of silk proteins plays an important role in the mechanical property of silk fibres.

Suggested Citation

  • Taiyo Yoshioka & Takuya Tsubota & Kohji Tashiro & Akiya Jouraku & Tsunenori Kameda, 2019. "A study of the extraordinarily strong and tough silk produced by bagworms," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-09350-3
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09350-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-09350-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-019-09350-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-09350-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.