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Articles by Eric Gnesa in JoVE

 JoVE General

Microdissecção de Black Widow Aranha Silk glândulas produtoras de


JoVE 2382 1/11/2011

Department of Biological Sciences, University of the Pacific

Aqui nós descrevemos uma estratégia eficiente para remover as glândulas produtoras de seda do abdômen da fêmea aranha viúva negra. Este procedimento permite o isolamento rápido da produção de seda sete diferentes glândulas de uma forma altamente purificada, um processo importante para os investigadores a estudar a produção de seda de aranha e montagem de fibra.

 JoVE Bioengineering

Produção de seda sintética Aranha em escala de laboratório


JoVE 4191 7/18/2012

Department of Biological Sciences, University of the Pacific

Apesar das propriedades mecânicas excelentes e bioquímicos da aranha sedas, este material não pode ser colhido em grandes quantidades por meios convencionais. Aqui nós descrevemos uma estratégia eficiente para produzir fibras de seda de aranha artificial, que é um processo importante para os investigadores que estudam a produção de seda de aranha e sua utilização como a próxima geração de biomateriais.

Other articles by Eric Gnesa on PubMed

Synthetic Spider Silk Fibers Spun from Pyriform Spidroin 2, a Glue Silk Protein Discovered in Orb-weaving Spider Attachment Discs

Spider attachment disc silk fibers are spun into a viscous liquid that rapidly solidifies, gluing dragline silk fibers to substrates for locomotion or web construction. Here we report the identification and artificial spinning of a novel attachment disc glue silk fibroin, Pyriform Spidroin 2 (PySp2), from the golden orb weaver Nephila clavipes . MS studies support PySp2 is a constituent of the pyriform gland that is spun into attachment discs. Analysis of the PySp2 protein architecture reveals sequence divergence relative to the other silk family members, including the cob weaver glue silk fibroin PySp1. PySp2 contains internal block repeats that consist of two subrepeat units: one dominated by Ser, Gln, and Ala and the other Pro-rich. Artificial spinning of recombinant PySp2 truncations shows that the Ser-Gln-Ala-rich subrepeat is sufficient for the assembly of polymeric subunits and subsequent fiber formation. These studies support that both orb- and cob-weaving spiders have evolved highly polar block-repeat sequences with the ability to self-assemble into fibers, suggesting a strategy to allow fiber fabrication in the liquid environment of the attachment discs.

Conserved C-terminal Domain of Spider Tubuliform Spidroin 1 Contributes to Extensibility in Synthetic Fibers

Spider silk is renowned for its extraordinary mechanical properties, having a balance of high tensile strength and extensibility. To date, the majority of studies have focused on the production of dragline silks from synthetic spider silk gene products. Here we report the first mechanical analysis of synthetic egg case silk fibers spun from the Latrodectus hesperus tubuliform silk proteins, TuSp1 and ECP-2. We provide evidence that recombinant ECP-2 proteins can be spun into fibers that display mechanical properties similar to other synthetic spider silks. We also demonstrate that silks spun from recombinant thioredoxin-TuSp1 fusion proteins that contain the conserved C-terminal domain exhibit increased extensibility and toughness when compared to the identical fibers spun from fusion proteins lacking the C-terminus. Mechanical analyses reveal that the properties of synthetic tubuliform silks can be modulated by altering the postspin draw ratios of the fibers. Fibers subject to increased draw ratios showed elevated tensile strength and decreased extensibility but maintained constant toughness. Wide-angle X-ray diffraction studies indicate that postdrawn fibers containing the C-terminal domain of TuSp1 have more amorphous content when compared to fibers lacking the C-terminus. Taken together, these studies demonstrate that recombinant tubuliform spidroins that contain the conserved C-terminal domain with embedded protein tags can be effectively spun into fibers, resulting in similar tensile strength but increased extensibility relative to nontagged recombinant dragline silk proteins spun from equivalently sized proteins.

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