Secrets of spider silk spinning process

17 May '10

4 min read

When the protected proteins enter the spinning duct, they encounter an environment with an entirely different salt concentration and composition. This renders two salt bridges of the control domain unstable, and the chain can unfold. Furthermore, the flow in the narrow spinning duct results in strong shear forces. The long protein chains are aligned in parallel, thus placing the areas responsible for interlinking side by side. The stable spider silk fiber is formed.

“Our results have shown that the molecular switch we discovered at the C-terminal end of the protein chain is decisive, both for safe storage and for the fiber formation process,” says Franz Hagn. An important foundation for these results was established through cooperation of Thomas Scheibel's group with Professor Andreas Bausch's workgroup at the Physics Department at TUM.Using microsystem technology, they developed an artificial spinning duct. Meanwhile the Bayreuth scientists are working intensively to develop a biomimetic spinning apparatus, within the framework of a federally supported joint project with industrial partners. The potential applications are countless, from resorbable surgical suture material to technical fibers for the automotive industry.

The research has been supported through the provision of testing and measuring time by the Bavarian NMR Center, through the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the Excellence Cluster Center for Integrated Protein Science Munich (CIPSM) and the Institute for Advanced Study at the TU Muenchen, where Horst Kessler has been working as Senior Fellow since becoming Emeritus. Franz Hagn's work is funded by the Bayerisches Elitenetzwerk CompInt, co-author John G. Hardy from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM)

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