Spider Silk- An Unconventional Fiber

By- Shubhi Sethi

Spider Silk- An Unconventional Fiber

Introduction
- Spider silk is a protein fiber spun by spiders.Spiders use their spun to make webs or other structure, which
function as nets to catch other animals, or as nest or sassoons for protection of their offsprings. They can
also suspend themselves using their silk
- The silk is secreted from glands inside the spider’s spinnerets, located on the back of a spiders abdomen
- Spider silk is renounce for being stronger than steel by mass and is surprisingly elastic and has generated
interest for array of applications

- Spider silks provide a greater diversity of physical and mechanical properties in comparison to silkworm-
derived fibers, due to the presence of multiple complex silk glands

Allegedly, these properties are the result of both of its structure and chemical makeup
Structure
The web of an orb-weaver spider is a giant sensory organ, a deadly trap, an architectural wonder, and a spectacle
of elegance. Members of this group build large, intricate, concentric webs using a toolkit of different special-
purpose threads produced from their three or four sets of spinneret glands.

- Spider silk is a natural polypeptide, polymeric protein and is in the scleroprotein group which also encompasses collagen (in ligaments)
and keratin (nails and hair), these are all proteins which provide structure
- The protein in dragline silk is fibroin (Mr 200,000-300,000) which is a combination of the proteins spidroin 1 and spidroin 2. The exact
composition of these proteins depends on factors including species and diet
- Fibroin consists of approximately 42% glycine and 25% alanine as the major amino acids. The remaining components are mostly glutamine,
serine, leucine, valine, proline, tyrosine and arginine. Spidroin 1 and spidroin 2 differ mainly in their content of proline and tyrosine

Alanine
The fluid dope is a liquid crystalline solution where the protein molecules can move freely but some
order is retained in that the long axis of molecules lie parallel, resulting in some crystalline properties.
It is thought that the spidroin molecules are coiled in rod-shaped structures in solution and later uncoil
to form silk.

Now, during their passage through the narrowing tubes to the spinneret the protein molecules align
and partial crystallisation occurs parallel to the fibre axis. This occurs through self-assembly of the
molecules where the polyalanine regions link together via hydrogen bonds to form pleated b-sheets
(highly ordered crystalline regions). These b-sheets act as crosslinks between the protein molecules
and imparts high tensile strength on the silk.
It is not purely coincidence that the major amino acids in spider
silk are alanine and glycine. They are the smallest two amino
acids and do not contain bulky side groups so are able to pack
together tightly, resulting in easier formation of the crystalline
regions.

The crystalline regions are very hydrophobic which aids the loss
of water during solidification of spider silk. This also explains why
the silk is so insoluble - water molecules are unable to penetrate
the strongly hydrogen bonded b-sheets.
The glycine-rich spiral regions of spidroin aggregate to form
amorphous areas and these are the elastic regions of spider
silk. Less ordered alanine-rich crystalline regions have also
been identified and these are thought to connect the b-sheets
to the amorphous regions. Overall, a generalised structure of
spider silk is considered to be crystalline regions in an
amorphous matrix. Kevlar has a similar structure.

It is not entirely clear how the protein molecules align and

undergo self-assembly to form silk but it may involve
mechanical and frictional forces that arise during passage
through the spider’s spinning organs.
Extraction and Weaving of Spider Silk

- Recombinant production of spider silk proteins has been complicated

by the highly repetitive nature of the underlying genes, by their high
gc-content, by the length of the constructs, and by the specific
codon usage of spiders. In first studies, in vitro translation of mRNA
from excised major ampullate glands of Nephila Clavipes was
performed using tRNA from E. coli,but translation was discontinuous.

- Therefore, now everyone used partial cDNA constructs of dragline

silk genes to produce recombinant silk proteins in E. coli, in MAC-T
(bovine) and BHK (hamster) cells, or in insect cell lines from
Spodoptera Frugiperda using the baculovirus expression system.

- The most promising expression system seems to be the baculovirus

system, since it was possible to efficiently produce dragline silk
components at a high yield.
 Amazing Properties of Spider Silk

1. Medical Applications
In recent years, many biologically derived materials have
gained attention in the medical field. Inspired by the ability
of natural spider silk to stop bleeding and promote wound
healing, researchers hope to develop a new vascular graft. A
significant drawback of today’s artificial blood vessels is their
instability and lack of vascular resistance. Therefore, it is
necessary to find alternative biological methods to improve
the physical properties of artificial blood vessel walls. Spider
silk has been proven to be degradable, flexible, and has strong
mechanical properties and good biocompatibility in research.
 2. Textile Applications

Natural spider silk can be used to make clothing like

silk, and clothes made from spider silk have good
breathability, can absorb sweat, and are more
resistant to wear and tear. However, because the
production efficiency of spider silk is low, spider silk
clothing has always been a luxury. The pore size
and the number of micropores present in the spider
silk makes the material’s waterproof, moisture-
permeable, breathable, and heat-transfer properties
and can be modified to meet the needs of different
protective clothing.
 3. Sensor Application

Nanocob web fiber has also been widely used in the

field of sensors. The radiation on the spider web
extends radially outward, supporting and transmitting
signals. Liu et al. inspired a unique assembly method of
spiral and radiation microstructures in spider webs,
proposed a new structure of electronic devices, and
developed a new type of multi-resolution graphene
tactile sensor. They used a highly sensitive aerogel as a
sensing material and a graphene tape with high
conductivity and stability as a transmission material to
realize the orientation, distance, and position
identification of the new tactile sensor.
 4. Acoustic Application

Spider web is composed of different radiation silk and catching silk.

The ring in the center of the web can resonate at a specific frequency,
which can effectively reduce and absorb the vibration of various
frequencies. Based on this natural structure, Miniaci et al. designed a
sonic metamaterial, which consists of several square units with a Co-
vibration ring, and is connected by the ligament structure to the
center and surroundings of the ring. The sonic metamaterial structure
model is shown in the figure, in this five parameters can be adjusted
in the structure, which is composed of two parts: hoop and traction.
Under the condition of ensuring that the material is unchanged, by
adjusting these five parameters, research work on different structural
parameters is realized. This metamaterial has high controllability and
exhibits adjustable acoustic properties that is expected to play new
roles in the field of vibration, such as strengthening bridges and
buildings during earthquakes, noise reduction, Yabo image technology,
and sound stealth cloak and more.
 5. Spider Silk for Violin Strings

Spider Silk is turning out to be a remarkably

Versatile material. Aside from having a higher
heat conductivity than any other organic matter
and proteins for interesting genes into cells,
strings from spider have also been found to
have a very tensile strength. One researcher,
recently unveiled a new application for it by
weaving together thousand of stands of spider
filaments and using them as Violin strings.
 6. Human Application

Until World War II, spider silk was used for

crosshairs in optical devices, including microscopes,
telescopes, guns, and bomb guiding systems. Single
strands were excellent for this purpose because
they are thin-the average spider silk is only
1/20,000 of an inch across, compared to 11250 for
a human hair. And still in some societies spider silk
in being used in making fish nets.
 Types of Spider Silk

There are several types of spider silk and each

one has a unique aspect in spider life. Spiders
are able to produce up to seven types of silk,
each type produced by one of its seven silk
glands. Individual spiders do not possess all
seven glands but has at least three if it is male
(dragline, attachment and swathing silk) or
four if it is female since females produce one
additional kind of silk that is used for her egg
sac. The seven types of native silk glands and threads from spider of Araneus
diadematus: dragline/major ampullate silk (red), minor ampullate silk (purple),
flagelliform silk (green), aggregate silk (blue), cylindriformis silk (brown), aciniform
silk (yellow), and pyriform silk (orange).
The Seven Types of Spider Silk are-

-
Cylindriformis gland for producing egg sac silk
- Aciniform gland for producing silk that binds up and envelops prey
- Ampullate gland (major and minor) for producing the non-sticky dragline silk used to connect the spider to the web and function
as a safety lines in case a spider should fall or move outside of the web. Dragline silk is the strongest kind of silk because it must
support the weight of the spider.
- Pyriform gland for producing attaching threads and attachment discs that anchor a silk thread to a surface to another thread.
- Flagelliform gland for producing the web material that makes up the core fibers of sticky silk that helps prevents prey from
getting out of a web
- Aggregate gland for producing droplets that produce the surface part of sticky silk and create the adhesives that are deposited
along the threads.
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