Quantitative Correlation between the protein primary sequences and secondary structures in spider dragline silks.

ABSTRACT: Synthetic spider silk holds great potential for use in various applications spanning medical uses to ultra lightweight armor; however, producing synthetic fibers with mechanical properties comparable to natural spider silk has eluded the scientific community. Natural dragline spider silks are commonly made from proteins that contain highly repetitive amino acid motifs, adopting an array of secondary structures. Before further advances can be made in the production of synthetic fibers based on spider silk proteins, it is imperative to know the percentage of each amino acid in the protein that forms a specific secondary structure. Linking these percentages to the primary amino acid sequence of the protein will establish a structural foundation for synthetic silk. In this study, nuclear magne

SUBMITTER: Jenkins JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2805410 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature