Physico-chemical properties of functionally adhesive spider silk nanofibres

Joel, Anna-Christin; Rawal, Aditya; Yao, Yin; Jenner, Andrew; Ariotti, Nicholas; Weissbach, Margret; Adler, Lewis; Stafstrom, Jay A.; Blamires, Sean J.

doi:10.1039/d2bm01599d

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…Considering the spatial periods and heights of the nanoripples ( Tables 1 , 3 ), we find that without a preload on the fiber (i.e., with S = 0), the smaller fibers with R = 7.5 nm adhere to all surfaces, while the larger ones with R = 15 nm do not, with the exception of ripples with a spatial period of 613 nm. The fibers of U. plumipes have a mean radius of R = 10 nm ( Joel et al, 2023 ), which would make about half of the structures adhesive – mainly those with smaller spatial periods. For a preload of S = 1 nN, none of the fibers adhere to any of the tested surfaces.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With cribellate spiders, nature offers inspiration for overcoming nanofiber adhesion ( Joel et al, 2015 , 2020 ; Meyer et al, 2021 ; Figure 1 ), as they are capable of producing, processing, and handling nanofibers ( Hawthorn and Opell, 2002 ; Joel et al, 2015 , 2016 ; Bott et al, 2017 ; Grannemann et al, 2019 ). Cribellate spiders, a paraphyletic group within the web-building spiders (Araneae), incorporate thousands of ~15–30 nm thick nanofibers into their capture threads to give them adhesive properties ( Friedrich and Langer, 1969 ; Peters, 1992 ; Opell and Schwend, 2007 ; Joel et al, 2015 , 2023 ; Kronenberger and Vollrath, 2015 ; Bott et al, 2017 ; Joel and Baumgartner, 2017 ). They form them into wooly puffs that surround thicker axial fibers, e.g., in Uloboridae ( Opell, 1979 ; Peters, 1984 ; Joel et al, 2015 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Robustness of antiadhesion between nanofibers and surfaces covered with nanoripples of varying spatial period

et al. 2023

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Since nanofibers have a high surface-to-volume ratio, van der Waals forces render them attracted to virtually any surface. The high ratio provides significant advantages for applications in drug delivery, wound healing, tissue regeneration, and filtration. Cribellate spiders integrate thousands of nanofibers into their capture threads as an adhesive to immobilize their prey. These spiders have antiadhesive nanoripples on the calamistrum, a comb-like structure on their hindmost legs, and are thus an ideal model for investigating how nanofiber adhesion can be reduced. We found that these nanoripples had similar spacing in the cribellate species Uloborus plumipes, Amaurobius similis, and Menneus superciliosus, independent of phylogenetic relation and size. Ripple spacing on other body parts (i.e., cuticle, claws, and spinnerets), however, was less homogeneous. To investigate whether a specific distance between the ripples determines antiadhesion, we fabricated nanorippled foils by nanosecond UV laser processing. We varied the spatial periods of the nanoripples in the range ~ 203–613 nm. Using two different pulse numbers resulted in ripples of different heights. The antiadhesion was measured for all surfaces, showing that the effect is robust against alterations across the whole range of spatial periods tested. Motivated by these results, we fabricated irregular surface nanoripples with spacing in the range ~ 130–480 nm, which showed the same antiadhesive behavior. The tested surfaces may be useful in tools for handling nanofibers such as spoolers for single nanofibers, conveyor belts for producing endless nanofiber nonwoven, and cylindrical tools for fabricating tubular nanofiber nonwoven. Engineered fibers such as carbon nanotubes represent a further candidate application area.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Robustness of antiadhesion between nanofibers and surfaces covered with nanoripples of varying spatial period

et al. 2023

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“…Uluborus plumipes are cribellate spiders, that is, spiders that use a dry capture thread with mechanical stickiness instead of the capture threads coated with viscid glue (Kono et al, 2020). Cribellate capture threads contain thousands of 15-30 nm thick nanofibers, organized into wooly puffs surrounding thicker axial fibers (Joel et al, 2023). To extract the fibers from the cribellum and to brush them into voluminous puffs, cribellate spiders use their hindmost (forth) pair of legs, whose metatarsi contain a comb-like structure, called the calamistrum (Joel et al, 2016).…”

Section: Open Access Edited Bymentioning

confidence: 99%

Bio-inspired hierarchical polymer micro- and nanostructures for anti-adhesion applications

Plamadeala,

Lifka,

Buchberger

et al. 2023

Front. Mater.

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In this paper we present polymer surfaces inspired by the calamistrum of cribellate spiders. The calamistrum resembles a micro-comb with a finger-print-like nanorippled topography, which allows cribellate spiders to handle and process nanofibers, without sticking to them. Due to its morphology, the calamistrum has a reduced surface for contact with the nanofibers, which therefore reduces the adhesive forces. Three different types of structured surfaces were prepared: nanostructured surfaces (ripples), microstructured surfaces (lines), and a combination of micro- and nanostructured surfaces (lines superimposed with ripples). Polymer lines were created using UV mask lithography. Nanoripples, i.e., laser-induced periodic surface structures, were fabricated by exposure to a KrF* laser beam. Nanofibers were produced and deposited onto each sample by electrospinning. To quantify each samples’ adhesiveness, a peel-off test was used, and the results were plotted and compared against the control samples–a flat polymer film. Our results indicate that lines have a stronger influence on the adhesion reduction than the nanoripples: nanoripples reduce fiber adhesion by 7%, whereas the lines reduce it by 28%. The highest adhesion reduction of 33% is obtained for the polymer surfaces with a combination of both lines and nanoripples. Our results open new insights in the field of artificial nanofiber adhesion on micro- and nanopatterned surfaces, which are essential when designing tools for nanofiber handling.

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“…These units consist of alternating regions of crystalline and semiamorphous regions. Spidroins are naturally designed as block copolymers with alternating hydrophilic and hydrophobic segments. − The repetitive unit motifs play a crucial role in the outstanding mechanical properties of spider silk. , The characteristic motifs, such as A n or (GA) n , are responsible for the reverse parallel β-sheet structures within the microcrystalline regions of spider silk, contributing to its high strength. , The motifs (GGX) n , on the other hand, mainly form 3 10 -helices in the semiamorphous regions, promoting the high extensibility and high Young’s modulus of spider silk. − …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tyrosine Mutation in the Characteristic Motif of the Amorphous Region of Spidroin for Self-Assembly Capability Enhancement

Chen,

Cheng,

Liu

et al. 2024

ACS Omega

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Spidroin, with robust mechanical performance and good biocompatibility, could fulfill broad applications in material science and biomedical fields. Development of miniature spidroin has made abundant fiber production economically feasible, but the mechanical properties of artificial silk still fall short of natural silk. The mechanism behind mechanical properties of spidroin usually focuses on β-microcrystalline regions; the effect of amorphous regions was barely studied. In this study, residue tyrosines (Y) were designed to replace asparagine (N)/glutamic acid (Q) in the characteristic motifs (GGX)n in amorphous regions for performance enhancement of spidroin; the mutants presented lower free energy and significantly exhibited stronger van der Waals and electrostatic interactions, which might result from π−π stacking interactions between the phenyl rings in the side chain of tyrosine. Additionally, the soluble expressions of wild-type spidroin and mutant spidroin were achieved when heterologously expressed in E. coli, with yields of 560 mg/L (2REP), 590 mg/L (2REPM), 240 mg/L (4REP), and 280 mg/L (4REPM). Significantly, secondary structure analysis confirmed that the mutant spidroin more avidly forms more β-sheets than the wild-type spidroin, and aggregation morphology suggested that mutant spidroin displayed better selfassembly capacity and was easier to form artificial spider silk fibers; in particular, self-assembled 4REPM nanofibrils had an average modulus of 11.2 ± 0.35 GPa, about 2 times higher than self-assembled B. mori silk nanofibrils and almost the same as that of native spider dragline silk fibers (10−15 GPa). Thus, we first demonstrated a new influence mechanism of the amorphous region's characteristic motif on the self-assembly and material properties of spidroin. Our study provides a reference for the design of highperformance material proteins and their heterologous preparation.

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Physico-chemical properties of functionally adhesive spider silk nanofibres

Abstract: In nano-scale spider silk fibres, typically secondary protein structures are lost and the silk becomes very compliant. Additionally, due to a changed amino acid composition, a suit of new functionalities can be gained.

Cited by 9 publications

References 72 publications

Robustness of antiadhesion between nanofibers and surfaces covered with nanoripples of varying spatial period

Robustness of antiadhesion between nanofibers and surfaces covered with nanoripples of varying spatial period

Bio-inspired hierarchical polymer micro- and nanostructures for anti-adhesion applications

Tyrosine Mutation in the Characteristic Motif of the Amorphous Region of Spidroin for Self-Assembly Capability Enhancement

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