Wool and silk: chains of amino acids

Section 2 of 5

Wool and silk come from animals, and both are proteins: long chains of amino acids joined by peptide bonds, the same -⁠CONH⁠- amide link that holds nylon's chains together.

Almost every peptide bond along a protein chain carries an N–⁠H group and a C=O group, and these make hydrogen bonds with each other: the δ+ hydrogen of an N–⁠H is drawn to a lone pair on the δ− oxygen of a C=O somewhere else along the chain, or on another chain. Silk and wool use these hydrogen bonds in two different ways.

Silk's chains lie straight in sheets; wool's chains coil Two panels. Left, silk: four zigzag chains lie side by side in a flat sheet, and short dashed hydrogen bonds join each chain to the chains above and below it. Right, wool: three chains, each coiled into a spring-like helix, stand side by side. Short amber links, the S-S bridges, join each coil to its neighbour where they come closest. silk flat sheets wool coiled chains
Silk's chains lie straight, side by side in flat sheets, held by hydrogen bonds (dashed). Each of wool's chains coils into a helix, and S–⁠S bridges (amber) tie neighbouring chains together.

Silk: flat sheets

Silkworms, the caterpillars of the silk moth, spin silk to build their cocoons. Nearly half of the amino acids in silk's main protein, fibroin, are glycine, and nearly a third are alanine. Their side groups are small, a hydrogen atom and a methyl group, so the chains lie straight and close, with every N–⁠H hydrogen-bonded to a C=O on the chain next door. The chains make flat sheets, and the sheets stack closely on top of each other.

Silk fibres are smooth and fine, and each has a rounded triangular cross-section that bends and reflects light like a prism, which gives silk its shine. A gummy second protein, sericin, coats the raw silk and is washed off in hot, soapy water before the silk is woven.

Wool: coiled chains

Wool's protein is keratin, the same family of proteins as your hair and nails. Each keratin chain coils into a helix, like a spring, with 3.6 amino acids in every turn. Hydrogen bonds hold the coil in place: each C=O holds the N–⁠H of the amino acid four places further along the same chain. Pairs of coils twist round each other, and bundles of them run along the fibre.

Cysteine, C₃H₇NO₂SAn amino acid. One carbon atom carries an -NH₂ group, a -COOH group, a hydrogen atom and a -CH₂SH side group that ends in a sulfur atom with a hydrogen. This is L-cysteine, the form found in proteins.SHOHONH2
Cysteine, C₃H₇NO₂S: an amino acid whose side group, -⁠CH₂SH, ends in a sulfur atom carrying a hydrogen.

Keratin is rich in cysteine. Where two cysteines on neighbouring chains meet, each loses the hydrogen from its -⁠SH group and their sulfur atoms join with a covalent bond, an S–⁠S bridge, which ties the chains together. Pull a wool fibre and its coils stretch out; let go, and the bridges and the coils pull it back. That springiness is why a wool jumper keeps its form and shakes out its creases.

Quick check

Why can silk's protein chains lie flat and close together in sheets?