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Spider Silk Fibers Spun from Soluble Recombinant Silk Produced in Mammalian Cells.
- Source :
-
Science . 1/18/2002, Vol. 295 Issue 5554, p472-476. 5p. 1 Color Photograph, 1 Black and White Photograph, 3 Diagrams, 2 Charts, 2 Graphs. - Publication Year :
- 2002
-
Abstract
- Spider silks are protein-based “biopolymer” filaments or threads secreted by specialized epithelial cells as concentrated soluble precursors of highly repetitive primary sequences. Spider dragline silk is a flexible, lightweight fiber of extraordinary strength and toughness comparable to that of synthetic high-performance fibers. We sought to “biomimic” the process of spider silk production by expressing in mammalian cells the dragline silk genes (ADF-3/MaSpII and MaSpI) of two spider species. We produced soluble recombinant (rc)-dragline silk proteins with molecular masses of 60 to 140 kilodaltons. We demonstrated the wet spinning of silk monofilaments spun from a concentrated aqueous solution of soluble rc-spider silk protein (ADF-3; 60 kilodaltons) under modest shear and coagulation conditions. The spun fibers were water insoluble with a fine diameter (10 to 40 micrometers) and exhibited toughness and modulus values comparable to those of native dragline silks but with lower tenacity. Dope solutions with rc-silk protein concentrations >20% and postspinning draw were necessary to achieve improved mechanical properties of the spun fibers. Fiber properties correlated with finer fiber diameter and increased birefringence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *SPIDERS
*SILK spinning
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00368075
- Volume :
- 295
- Issue :
- 5554
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Science
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 6061746
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1065780