BY MARIA BURKE
South Korean scientists have successfully recreated ancient sea silk – a rare, shimmering fibre prized since Roman times – using a clam farmed in modern coastal waters. They also discovered how sea silk’s golden colour emerges naturally from the internal alignment of its proteins.
Sea silk – sometimes called the golden fibre of the sea – was among the most treasured materials of the Roman era reserved for emperors and popes and prized for its luminous gold appearance, light weight and remarkable strength.
The fibre comes from byssus threads produced by a large Mediterranean clam to attach it to rocks (Pinna nobilis). However, marine pollution and environmental damage have severely affected Pinna nobilis populations, pushing the species toward extinction. The EU has banned harvesting the clam, with only tiny amounts produced today by a small number of artisans.
Instead, researchers led by Dong Soo Hwang and Jimin Choi of the Pohang University of Science & Technology turned instead to the pen shell (Atrina pectinata), a clam farmed in Korean coastal waters, to reproduce the sea silk. Like Pinna nobilis, this species produces byssus threads to anchor itself.
The researchers discovered that the byssus from the pen shell closely matches the physical and chemical properties of the original sea silk fibres.
They report that they were able to recreate a shimmering golden fibre similar to one used more than 2,000 years ago (Advanced Materials, 2025, DOI: 10.1002/adma.202502820).
On analysis, the team found the threads exhibit a ‘remarkable’ hierarchical structure consisting of globular proteins known as photonins. These are arranged in layers of different sizes and stabilised by supramolecular sugar-lectin interactions. This means that the layers reflect light in a similar way to soap bubbles or butterfly wings.
The study also showed that colour intensity depends on how neatly the proteins are arranged. The more ordered the structure, the brighter and richer the golden appearance becomes. The researchers explain that as the gold hue comes from structure (rather than pigment dye), it remains stable and resists fading over long periods of time.
The researchers believe that the research could help the transformation of pen shell byssus, which are discarded as waste, into a valuable textile.
‘Structurally coloured textiles are inherently resistant to fading,’ Dong Soo Hwang says. ‘Our technology enables long-lasting colour without the use of dyes or metals, opening new possibilities for sustainable fashion and advanced materials that also carry deep cultural and historical meaning.’
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