Protein Composition Correlates with the Mechanical Properties of Spider (Argiope trifasciata) Dragline Silk

Protein composition correlates with the mechanical properties of spider ( Argiope trifasciata ) dragline silk.

We investigated the natural variation in silk composition and mechanical performance of the orb-weaving spider Argiope trifasciata at multiple spatial and temporal scales in order to assess how protein composition contributes to the remarkable material properties of spider dragline silk. Major ampullate silk in orb-weaving spiders consists predominantly of two proteins (MaSp1 and MaSp2) with di...

PROTEIN COMPOSITION CORRELATES WITH THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SPIDER (ARGIOPE TRIFASCIATA) DRAGLINE SILK A Thesis Presented to The Graduate Faculty of The University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science

Novel Assembly Properties of Recombinant Spider Dragline Silk Proteins

Spider dragline silk, which exhibits extraordinary strength and toughness, is primarily composed of two related proteins that largely consist of repetitive sequences. In most spiders, the repetitive region of one of these proteins is rich in prolines, which are not present in the repetitive region of the other. The absence of prolines in one component was previously speculated to be essential f...

Spider Dragline Silk Molecular Properties and Recombinant Expression

Rising, A. 2007. Spider dragline silk – molecular properties and recombinant production. Doctor’s dissertation. ISSN: 1652-6880, ISBN: 978-91-576-7337-4 Spider dragline silk possesses several desirable features of a biomaterial; it has extraordinary mechanical properties, is biocompatible and biodegradable. It consists of large proteins, major ampullate spidroins (MaSp:s), that contain alternat...

Nanostructure and molecular mechanics of spider dragline silk protein assemblies.

Spider silk is a self-assembling biopolymer that outperforms most known materials in terms of its mechanical performance, despite its underlying weak chemical bonding based on H-bonds. While experimental studies have shown that the molecular structure of silk proteins has a direct influence on the stiffness, toughness and failure strength of silk, no molecular-level analysis of the nanostructur...