New protein found in the most powerful spider web material

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in the United States and Slovenia has discovered a previously unknown protein in the most powerful spider web material known. In their article published in the newspaper Biology of communicationThe group describes his study of the spider silk of Darwin's bark and the glands that produce it.

Human beings are impressed by silk made from spiders for thousands of years – to the point that much effort has gone into harvesting spiders for garment making – and in laboratory reproduction to create new resistant materials. In this new effort, researchers focused their efforts on Darwin's bark spiders, their silk-producing glands and the silk produced.

Darwin's bark spiders are a type of spider orb, which means that they make their spider webs in the form of a spoked wheel. They form the largest known canvases of all spiders, which they spin over the surface of streams. Previous research has shown that the spider actually manufactures seven different types of silk for use in different parts of its web. One of these types of silk, called dragline, is used to build the spokes that give strength to the wheel. Previous research has shown that it was the most resistant spider silk there is. In this new effort, the researchers took a closer look at the dragline silk and the gland that produces it.

The researchers discovered two well-known types of spindroins, the repetitive protein types, called MaSp1 and MaSp2, found in many spider silks. But in the dragline of Darwin's bark spiders, they found another spindroine, which they named MaSp4a. The study of this protein revealed that it contained high amounts of an amino acid called proline, which, according to previous research, is generally badociated with elasticity. The protein also had less of some of the other components present in MaSp1 and MaSp2, which made it quite unique.

The researchers also found that the gland that produces silk – the blisters – is longer than other spiders, which may be another indication of the strength of the silk produced.

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