Silk remarkable mechanical properties, comparative biocompatibility, tunable degradation rates "in vitro" and "in vivo", the ease to load cellular growth factors (for example, BMP-2), and the ability to be processed into several other formats such as films, gels, particles, and scaffolds. Silks from "Bombyx mori", a kind of cultivated silkworm, are the most widely investigated silks. Silks derived from "Bombyx mori" are generally made of two parts: the silk fibroin fiber which contains a light chain of 25kDa and a heavy chain of 350kDa (or 390kDa) linked by a single disulfide bond and a glue-like protein, sericin, comprising 25 to 30
Bombyx mandarina Bombyx mandarina Bombyx mandarina, the wild silkmoth, is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of "Bombyx mori" the domesticated silkmoth or "silkworm" (properly, this refers to the caterpillars only). Unlike the domesticated relative which is unable to fly or indeed persist outside human care, the wild silkmoth is a fairly ordinary lepidopteran. Its main difference from the domesticated taxon is the more slender body with well-developed wings in males, and the dull greyish-brown colour. "Bombyx mandarina" and the domesticated "Bombyx mori" constitute two of the currently identified eight species of the genus "Bombyx", the