![]() ![]() Spiders make seven types of silk, each spun from a single type of spidroin, from scaffolding silks to glues and silks to capture prey or wrap eggs. Finally, the silk thread exits the spider at the spinneret or the cribellum (depending on the spider species). The spider forces the dope out of the glands through an S-shaped duct that actively acidifies and dehydrates the protein solution. Spidroins are stored within the silk glands and form an extremely concentrated fluid (known as spinning ‘dope’) equivalent to 40 grammes of protein dissolved in 100 millilitres of water. Natural spider silk is composed of large (>250kDa), repetitive and insoluble proteins called spidroins. It took 1.2 million wild golden orb-weaver spiders ( Nephila clavipes), more than 80 people and three years of labour to produce four metres of fabric. To illustrate just how difficult it is to obtain spider silk, in 2009 artists Simon Peers and Nicholas Godley presented the world with the first and only piece of clothing made entirely of natural spider silk. Unlike silkworms, spiders are highly territorial and cannibalistic, which rules out high-density farming for an industrially relevant silk supply. ![]() The reason we cannot buy spider silk-based plasters and bandages at the local pharmacy is the scarcity of the material. Besides its phenomenal mechanical traits, spider silk shows excellent biocompatibility in mammals, making it an ideal material for biomedical applications. Silk is resistant to chemical degradation by solvents and strong acids and bases, and its biodegradation rate is slow. Spider silk is the toughest known fibre: its physical properties can outcompete natural and synthetic materials, including bullet-proof Kevlar and high-tensile steel. Jolanta Beinarovica AMRSB explores how synthetic biology is helping produce custom spider silks with a range of extraordinary mechanical and biological properties in quantities that would be impossible to extract from spiders ![]()
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