Atomic force microscopy of orb-spider-web-silks to measure surface nanostructuring and evaluate silk fibers per strand

Kane, D. M.; Naidoo, Nishen; Staib, G. R.

doi:10.1063/1.3490220

Cited by 17 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 13 publications

(17 reference statements)

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“…As a result, only a few techniques can provide structural information about silk monofilaments, including microscopic methods (atomic force microscopy, [1][2][3][4][5][6] scanning 3,5 and transmission electron microscopy, 7,8 and scanning transmission X-ray microscopy 9,10 ) and synchrotron X-ray diffraction. 11,12 Nevertheless, some of these techniques require a certain degree of treatment of the fiber that might affect its structure and/or they provide no molecular (i.e., spectroscopic) information.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structure of silk by raman spectromicroscopy: From the spinning glands to the fibers

et al. 2011

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Raman spectroscopy has long been proved to be a useful tool to study the conformation of protein‐based materials such as silk. Thanks to recent developments, linearly polarized Raman spectromicroscopy has appeared very efficient to characterize the molecular structure of native single silk fibers and spinning dopes because it can provide information relative to the protein secondary structure, molecular orientation, and amino acid composition. This review will describe recent advances in the study of the structure of silk by Raman spectromicroscopy. A particular emphasis is put on the spider dragline and silkworm cocoon threads, other fibers spun by orb‐weaving spiders, the spinning dope contained in their silk glands and the effect of mechanical deformation. Taken together, the results of the literature show that Raman spectromicroscopy is particularly efficient to investigate all aspects of silk structure and production. The data provided can lead to a better understanding of the structure of the silk dope, transformations occurring during the spinning process, and structure and mechanical properties of native fibers. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers 97: 322–336, 2012.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structure of silk by raman spectromicroscopy: From the spinning glands to the fibers

et al. 2011

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“…The viscous aggregate silk and solid flagelliform fibers are secreted simultaneously so the flagelliform fiber is spun doused with viscous silk (Sahni et al, 2011). As the silk is spun, surface tension forces result in the coalescence of the viscous aggregate silk into droplets along the flagelliform thread so as to superficially resemble beads along a string (Kane et al, 2010;Opell and Hendricks, 2010;Sahni et al, 2011;Sahni et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wind induces variations in spider web geometry and sticky spiral droplet volume

Blamires

et al. 2013

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYTrap building by animals is rare because it comes at a substantial cost. Using materials with properties that vary across environments maintains trap functionality. The sticky spiral silks of spider orb webs are used to catch flying prey. Web geometry, accompanied by compensatory changes in silk properties, may change across environments to sustain web functionality. We exposed the spider Cyclosa mulmeinensis to wind to test whether wind-induced changes in web geometry are accompanied by changes in aggregate silk droplet morphology, axial thread width or spiral stickiness. We compared: (i) web catching area, (ii) length of total silks, (iii) mesh height, (iv) number of radii, (v) aggregate droplet morphology and (vi) spiral thread stickiness, between webs made by spiders exposed to wind and those made by spiders not exposed to wind. We interpreted co-variation in droplet morphology or spiral stickiness with web capture area, mesh height or spiral length as the silk properties functionally compensating for changes in web geometry to reduce wind drag. Wind-exposed C. mulmeinensis built webs with smaller capture areas, shorter capture spiral lengths and more widely spaced capture spirals, resulting in the expenditure of less silk. Individuals that were exposed to wind also deposited larger droplets of sticky silk but the stickiness of the spiral threads remained unchanged. The larger droplets may be a product of a greater investment in water, or low molecular weight compounds facilitating atmospheric water uptake. Either way, droplet dehydration in wind is likely to be minimized.

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“…To date, computational calculations 4 , X-ray diffraction 5 , nuclear magnetic resonance 6 , polarized light microscopy 7 , scanning electron microscopy 7,8 , transmission electron microscopy 9 , Raman spectromicroscopy 10 and, more recently, atomic force microscopy (AFM) [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] have been the most commonly used techniques to study the nanoarrangements of silk fibre domains. However, the details of the size, topology, mechanical features and fractional composition of the crystalline and amorphous domains remain to be clarified.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Unravelling the biodiversity of nanoscale signatures of spider silk fibres

Silva

Rech

2013

Nat Commun

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Living organisms are masters at designing outstanding self-assembled nanostructures through a hierarchical organization of modular proteins. Protein-based biopolymers improved and selected by the driving forces of molecular evolution are among the most impressive archetypes of nanomaterials. One of these biomacromolecules is the myriad of compound fibroins of spider silks, which combine surprisingly high tensile strength with great elasticity. However, no consensus on the nano-organization of spider silk fibres has been reached. Here we explore the biodiversity of spider silk fibres, focusing on nanoscale characterization with high-resolution atomic force microscopy. Our results reveal an evolution of the nanoroughness, nanostiffness, nanoviscoelastic, nanotribological and nanoelectric organization of microfibres, even when they share similar sizes and shapes. These features are related to unique aspects of their molecular structures. The results show that combined nanoscale analyses of spider silks may enable the screening of appropriate motifs for bioengineering synthetic fibres from recombinant proteins.

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Atomic force microscopy of orb-spider-web-silks to measure surface nanostructuring and evaluate silk fibers per strand

Cited by 17 publications

References 13 publications

Structure of silk by raman spectromicroscopy: From the spinning glands to the fibers

Structure of silk by raman spectromicroscopy: From the spinning glands to the fibers

Wind induces variations in spider web geometry and sticky spiral droplet volume

Unravelling the biodiversity of nanoscale signatures of spider silk fibres

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