Spider Silk

Spider silk is one of the strongest natural fibers known. Various species of spiders spin up to seven different types of silk for different purposes such as web construction, wrapping prey, signaling, or protection. Orb-weaving spiders, for example, can spin dragline silk—their strongest silk—that is tougher than steel and stronger than Kevlar on an equal weight basis. This amazing strength comes from the unique nanostructure and composition of spider silk. However, spiders cannot be commercially farmed for their silk. This has led researchers to develop methods for producing synthetic spider silk.

Production Methods and Challenges

Synthetic Spider Silk through spinnerets - specialized glands located at the end of their abdomen. The silk protein is synthesized and stored as a liquid crystalline dope in glands. When pushed through the spinnerets, the dope transitions from a soluble liquid to insoluble fibers through a process called solid-liquid quenching. Reproducing this process synthetically has proven challenging. Initial research focused on expressing spider silk proteins recombinantly in organisms like E. coli, yeast or goat's milk. However, these systems lacked the necessary post-translational modifications and concentration levels found in spider glands. More recently, transgenic goats, silkworms and plants have been genetically modified to produce recombinant spider silk proteins.

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