Among a myriad of spider web geometries, the orb web presents a fascinating, exquisite example in architecture and evolution. Orb webs can be divided into two categories according to the capture silk used in construction: cribellate orb webs (composed of pseudoflagelliform silk) coated with dry cribellate threads and ecribellate orb webs (composed of flagelliform silk fibres) coated by adhesive...

Silk has a robust clinical track record and is emerging as a promising biopolymer for drug delivery, including its use as nanomedicine. However, silk-based nanomedicines still require further refinements for full exploitation of their potential; the application of "stealth" design principals is especially necessary to support their evolution. The aim of this study was to develop and examine the...

This is the first report on dual synthesis of poly[(R)-3-hydroxybutyric acid] (PHB) and protein polymer by recombinant microorganisms for use in the fabrication of a biofunctional PHB-based material hybridized with functional proteins. PHB and recombinant silk protein, a model protein developed in this study, were synthesized by a recombinant Escherichia coli system, and then films of PHB hybri...

Silks are renowned for being lightweight materials with impressive mechanical properties. Though moth and spider silks have received the most study, silk production has evolved in many other arthropods. One insect group that has been little investigated is Embioptera (webspinners). Embiopterans produce silk from unique tarsal spinning structures during all life stages. We characterize the molec...

Tendon reconstruction surgery often requires healing of the tendon to bone. The development of a more rapid and strong interaction at the tendon to bone interface would be invaluable to patients having orthopaedic surgery. Therefore, our rationale was to modify sutures so that they would be anabolic for tendon to bone healing. It has been shown that silk stimulates bone formation in osteoblast ...

The silk gland is the only organ where silk proteins are synthesized and secreted in the silkworm, Bombyx mori. Silk proteins are stored in the lumen of the silk gland for around eight days during the fifth instar. Determining their dynamic changes is helpful for clarifying the secretion mechanism of silk proteins. Here, we identified the proteome in the silk gland lumen using liquid chromatogr...

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are considered to be ideal multifunctional materials for biorelated applications, but there is still some controversy regarding their toxicity. In addition, the poor dispersibility of MWCNTs in either water or organic solvents has limited their practical applications. Therefore, obtaining a good dispersion is one of the key issues in their applications. In ...

Despite widespread use of silk, it remains a significant challenge to fabricate fibers with properties similar to native silk. It has recently been recognized that the key to tuning silk fiber properties lies in controlling internal structure of assembled β-sheets. We report an advance in the precise control of silk fiber formation with control of properties via microfluidic solution spinning. ...

Spider dragline silk is of practical interest because of its excellent mechanical properties. However, the structure of this material is still largely unknown. In this article, we report what we believe is a new model of the hierarchical structure of silk based on scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscope images. This hierarchical structure includes beta-sheet, polypeptide chain ...

Silk fibers have many inherent properties that are suitable for their use in biomaterials. In this study, the silk fibroin was genetically modified by including a Ca-binding sequence, [(AGSGAG)6ASEYDYDDDSDDDDEWD]2 from shell nacreous matrix protein. It can be produced as fibers by transgenic silkworm. The Ca-binding activity and mineralization of the transgenic silk fibroin were examined in vit...