Variation of Mechanical Properties with Amino Acid Content in the Silk of <i>Nephila Clavipes</i>

Zax, David B.; Armanios, Daniel Erian; Horak, Sally; Brodowski, Chris; Yang, Zhijun

doi:10.1021/bm034309x

Cited by 43 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…2,26,45 Significant mechanical differences are observed in N. clavipes dragline when spiders are fed diets deprived of Ala and Gly. 46 Nephila appears to be more ordered than Argiope dragline silk when considering the 15 N-Ala spectra. The 15 N NMR data suffers from less background signal than 13 C and the alanine is more concentrated in the crystalline regions of dragline silk.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Orientational order of Australian spider silks as determined by solid‐state NMR

et al. 2006

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A simple solid-state NMR method was used to study the structure of 13 C-and 15 Nenriched silk from two Australian orb-web spider species, Nephila edulis and Argiope keyserlingi. Carbon-13 and 15 N spectra from alanine-or glycine-labeled oriented dragline silks were acquired with the fiber axis aligned parallel or perpendicular to the magnetic field. The fraction of oriented component was determined from each amino acid, alanine and glycine, using each nucleus independently, and attributed to the ordered crystalline domains in the silk. The relative fraction of ordered alanine was found to be higher than the fraction of ordered glycine, akin to the observation of alanine-rich domains in silk-worm (Bombyx mori) silk. A higher degree of crystallinity was observed in the dragline silk of N. edulis compared with A. keyserlingi, which correlates with the superior mechanical properties of the former #

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Orientational order of Australian spider silks as determined by solid‐state NMR

et al. 2006

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“…[85] Apart from the active controls employed by a spider, silk fiber properties are affected by environmental influences, such as diet, temperature, and humidity, and body weight. [3,74,79,85,[88][89][90][91] The resulting variability allows the production of a tailored material ideally suited for either an inhabited environment or immediate needs. [92] …”

Section: Final Fiber Formation and Control Over Mechanical Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spider Silk: From Soluble Protein to Extraordinary Fiber

2009

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Spider silks outrival natural and many synthetic fibers in terms of their material characteristics. In nature, the formation of a solid fiber from soluble spider silk proteins is the result of complex biochemical and physical processes that take place within specialized spinning organs. Herein, we present natural and artificial silk production processes, from gene transcription to silk protein processing and finally fiber assembly. In-vivo and in-vitro findings in the field of spider silk research are the basis for the design of new proteins and processing strategies, which will enable applications of these fascinating protein-based materials in technical and medical sciences.

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“…Having repeating units consisting of proline and glutamine, the MaSp2 spidroin seems to be more energetically expensive to synthesize metabolically [4], [8], [9]. For this reason it was predicted that the golden orb web spider, Nephila clavipes , expresses less MaSp2 in its MA silk when under starvation stress [8], [25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in Protein Intake Induces Variation in Spider Silk Expression

Blamires

Tso

2012

PLoS ONE

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BackgroundIt is energetically expensive to synthesize certain amino acids. The proteins (spidroins) of spider major ampullate (MA) silk, MaSp1 and MaSp2, differ in amino acid composition. Glutamine and proline are prevalent in MaSp2 and are expensive to synthesize. Since most orb web spiders express high proline silk they might preferentially attain the amino acids needed for silk from food and shift toward expressing more MaSp1 in their MA silk when starved.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe fed three spiders; Argiope aetherea, Cyrtophora moluccensis and Leucauge blanda, high protein, low protein or no protein solutions. A. aetherea and L. blanda MA silks are high in proline, while C. moluccesnsis MA silks are low in proline. After 10 days of feeding we determined the amino acid compositions and mechanical properties of each species' MA silk and compared them between species and treatments with pre-treatment samples, accounting for ancestry. We found that the proline and glutamine of A. aetherea and L. blanda silks were affected by protein intake; significantly decreasing under the low and no protein intake treatments. Glutmaine composition in C. moluccensis silk was likewise affected by protein intake. However, the composition of proline in their MA silk was not significantly affected by protein intake.ConclusionsOur results suggest that protein limitation induces a shift toward different silk proteins with lower glutamine and/or proline content. Contradictions to the MaSp model lie in the findings that C. moluccensis MA silks did not experience a significant reduction in proline and A. aetherea did not experience a significant reduction in serine on low/no protein. The mechanical properties of the silks could not be explained by a MaSp1 expressional shift. Factors other than MaSp expression, such as the expression of spidroin-like orthologues, may impact on silk amino acid composition and spinning and glandular processes may impact mechanics.

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Variation of Mechanical Properties with Amino Acid Content in the Silk of Nephila Clavipes

Cited by 43 publications

References 10 publications

Orientational order of Australian spider silks as determined by solid‐state NMR

Orientational order of Australian spider silks as determined by solid‐state NMR

Spider Silk: From Soluble Protein to Extraordinary Fiber

Variation in Protein Intake Induces Variation in Spider Silk Expression

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