A recombinant chimeric spider pyriform-aciniform silk with highly tunable mechanical performance.

ABSTRACT: Spider silks are natural protein-based biomaterials which are renowned for their mechanical properties and hold great promise for applications ranging from high-performance textiles to regenerative medicine. While some spiders can produce several different types of silks, most spider silk types - including pyriform and aciniform silks - are relatively unstudied. Pyriform and aciniform silks have distinct mechanical behavior and physicochemical properties, with materials produced using combinations of these silks currently unexplored. Here, we introduce an engineered chimeric fusion protein consisting of two repeat units of pyriform (Py) silk followed by two repeat units of aciniform (W) silk named Py₂W₂. This recombinant ∼86.5 kDa protein is amenable to expression and

SUBMITTER: Ghimire A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11070712 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature