Meta-analysis reveals materiomic relationships in major ampullate silk across the spider phylogeny.

ABSTRACT: Spider major ampullate (MA) silk, with its combination of strength and extensibility, outperforms any synthetic equivalents. There is thus much interest in understanding its underlying materiome. While the expression of the different silk proteins (spidroins) appears an integral component of silk performance, our understanding of the nature of the relationship between the spidroins, their constituent amino acids and MA silk mechanics is ambiguous. To provide clarity on these relationships across spider species, we performed a meta-analysis using phylogenetic comparative methods. These showed that glycine and proline, both of which are indicators of differential spidroin expression, had effects on MA silk mechanics across the phylogeny. We also found serine to correlate with silk mechanics,

SUBMITTER: Craig HC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7536055 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature