Spiders use structural conversion of globular amyloidogenic domains to make strong silk fibersShow others and affiliations
2024 (English)In: Advanced Functional Materials, ISSN 1616-301X, E-ISSN 1616-3028, Vol. 34, no 23, article id 2315409Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Spider silk—an environmentally friendly protein-based material—is widely recognized for its extraordinary mechanical properties. Biomimetic spider silk-like fibers made from recombinant spider silk proteins (spidroins) currently falls short compared to natural silks in terms of mechanical performance. In this study, it is discovered that spiders use structural conversion of molecular enhancers—conserved globular 127-residue spacer domains—to make strong silk fibers. This domain lacks poly-Ala motifs but interestingly contains motifs that are similar to human amyloidogenic motifs, and that it self-assembles into amyloid-like fibrils through a non-nucleation-dependent pathway, likely to avoid the formation of cytotoxic intermediates. Incorporating this spacer domain into a recombinant chimeric spidroin facilitates self-assembly into silk-like fibers, increases fiber molecular homogeneity, and markedly enhances fiber mechanical strength. These findings highlight that spiders employ diverse strategies to produce silk with exceptional mechanical properties. The spacer domain offers a way to enhance the properties of recombinant spider silk-like fibers and other functional materials.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Wiley-VCH Verlagsgesellschaft, 2024. Vol. 34, no 23, article id 2315409
Keywords [en]
amyloid-like fibril, mechanical property, recombinant spider silk, spacer, spidroin
National Category
Biomaterials Science
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-221547DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202315409ISI: 001166331900001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85185272600OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-221547DiVA, id: diva2:1844190
Funder
Olle Engkvists stiftelseHedlund foundationAlzheimerfondenThe Karolinska Institutet's Research FoundationStiftelsen Gamla TjänarinnorStiftelsen Sigurd och Elsa Goljes minneGun och Bertil Stohnes StiftelseMagnus Bergvall Foundation2024-03-132024-03-132024-07-03Bibliographically approved