Ancient properties of spider silks revealed by the complete gene sequence of the prey-wrapping silk protein (AcSp1).

ABSTRACT: Spider silk fibers have impressive mechanical properties and are primarily composed of highly repetitive structural proteins (termed spidroins) encoded by a single gene family. Most characterized spidroin genes are incompletely known because of their extreme size (typically >9 kb) and repetitiveness, limiting understanding of the evolutionary processes that gave rise to their unusual gene architectures. The only complete spidroin genes characterized thus far form the dragline in the Western black widow, Latrodectus hesperus. Here, we describe the first complete gene sequence encoding the aciniform spidroin AcSp1, the primary component of spider prey-wrapping fibers. L. hesperus AcSp1 contains a single enormous (∼19 kb) exon. The AcSp1 repeat sequence is exceptionally conserved between two

SUBMITTER: Ayoub NA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3563967 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature