| Title: | The transcriptome of Darwinʼs bark spider silk glands predicts proteins contributing to dragline silk toughness |
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| Authors: | ID Garb, Jessica E. (Author)
ID Haney, Robert A. (Author)
ID Schwager, Evelyn E. (Author)
ID Gregorič, Matjaž (Author)
ID Kuntner, Matjaž (Author)
ID Agnarsson, Ingi (Author)
ID Blackledge, Todd A. (Author) |
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| Files: |  URL - Source URL, visit https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-019-0496-1
 PDF - Presentation file, download (937,74 KB)
MD5: C005D58CABA12BA729F7ED1D9DBB2D97
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| Language: | English |
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| Typology: | 1.01 - Original Scientific Article |
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| Organization: |  NIB - National Institute of Biology
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| Abstract: | Darwin’s bark spider (Caerostris darwini) produces giant orb webs from dragline silk that can be twice as tough as other silks, making it the toughest biological material. This extreme toughness comes from increased extensibility relative to other draglines. We show C. darwini dragline-producing major ampullate (MA) glands highly express a novel silk gene transcript (MaSp4) encoding a protein that diverges markedly from closely related proteins and contains abundant proline, known to confer silk extensibility, in a unique GPGPQ amino acid motif. This suggests C. darwini evolved distinct proteins that may have increased its dragline’s toughness, enabling giant webs. Caerostris darwini’s MA spinning ducts also appear unusually long, potentially facilitating alignment of silk proteins into extremely tough fibers. Thus, a suite of novel traits from the level of genes to spinning physiology to silk biomechanics are associated with the unique ecology of Darwin’s bark spider, presenting innovative designs for engineering biomaterials. |
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| Keywords: | spiders |
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| Publication status: | Published |
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| Publication version: | Version of Record |
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| Publication date: | 25.07.2019 |
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| Year of publishing: | 2019 |
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| Number of pages: | str. 1-8 |
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| Numbering: | [Vol.] 2 |
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| PID: | 20.500.12556/DiRROS-19583  |
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| UDC: | 595.44 |
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| ISSN on article: | 2399-3642 |
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| DOI: | 10.1038/s42003-019-0496-1 |
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| COBISS.SI-ID: | 5134927 |
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| Note: | Nasl. z nasl. zaslona;
Opis vira z dne 29. 7. 2019;
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| Publication date in DiRROS: | 23.07.2024 |
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| Views: | 3 |
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| Downloads: | 1 |
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