Relating spidroin motif prevalence and periodicity to the mechanical properties of major ampullate spider silks.

ABSTRACT: Spider dragline fibers exhibit incredible mechanical properties, outperforming many synthetic polymers in toughness assays, and possess desirable properties for medical and other human applications. These qualities make dragline fibers popular subjects for biomimetics research. The enormous diversity of spiders presents both an opportunity for the development of new bioinspired materials and a challenge for the identification of fundamental design principles, as the mechanical properties of dragline fibers show both intraspecific and interspecific variations. In this regard, the stress-strain curves of draglines from different species have been shown to be effectively compared by the α* parameter, a value derived from maximum-supercontracted silk fibers. To identify potential molecular mec

SUBMITTER: Arguelles J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9852138 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature