Development of a Process for the Spinning of Synthetic Spider Silk.

Spider silks have unique mechanical properties but current efforts to duplicate those properties with recombinant proteins have been unsuccessful. This study was designed to develop a single process to spin fibers with excellent and consistent mechanical properties. As-spun fibers produced were brittle, but by stretching the fibers the mechanical properties were greatly improved. A water-dip or water-stretch further increased the strength and elongation of the synthetic spider silk fibers. Given the promising results of the water stretch, a mechanical double-stretch system was developed. Both a methanol/water mixture and an isopropanol/water mixture were independently used to stretch the fibers with this system. It was found that the methanol mixture produced fibers with high tensile strength while the isopropanol mixture produced fibers with high elongation.

[1]  R. Lewis,et al.  COMPARISON OF PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THREE SILKS FROM NEPHILA CLA VIPES AND ARANEUS GEMMOIDES , 2016 .

[2]  T. Scheibel,et al.  Biomimetic Fibers Made of Recombinant Spidroins with the Same Toughness as Natural Spider Silk , 2015, Advanced materials.

[3]  B. A. Day,et al.  More than just fibers: an aqueous method for the production of innovative recombinant spider silk protein materials. , 2015, Biomacromolecules.

[4]  R. Lewis,et al.  Mechanical and Physical Properties of Recombinant Spider Silk Films Using Organic and Aqueous Solvents , 2014, Biomacromolecules.

[5]  Thomas Scheibel,et al.  Spider Silk Coatings as a Bioshield to Reduce Periprosthetic Fibrous Capsule Formation , 2014 .

[6]  R. Lewis,et al.  Effects of different post-spin stretching conditions on the mechanical properties of synthetic spider silk fibers. , 2014, Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials.

[7]  J. Hardy,et al.  Engineered spider silk protein-based composites for drug delivery. , 2013, Macromolecular bioscience.

[8]  R. Lewis,et al.  Nephila clavipes Flagelliform silk-like GGX motifs contribute to extensibility and spacer motifs contribute to strength in synthetic spider silk fibers. , 2013, Biomacromolecules.

[9]  O. Okay,et al.  Macroporous silk fibroin cryogels. , 2013, Biomacromolecules.

[10]  Janelle E. Jenkins,et al.  Reproducing natural spider silks' copolymer behavior in synthetic silk mimics. , 2012, Biomacromolecules.

[11]  Janelle E. Jenkins,et al.  X-ray diffraction study of nanocrystalline and amorphous structure within major and minor ampullate dragline spider silks. , 2012, Soft matter.

[12]  C. Benmore,et al.  Combining flagelliform and dragline spider silk motifs to produce tunable synthetic biopolymer fibers , 2012, Biopolymers.

[13]  Y. Hsia,et al.  Conserved C-terminal domain of spider tubuliform spidroin 1 contributes to extensibility in synthetic fibers. , 2012, Biomacromolecules.

[14]  R. Lewis,et al.  Inducing β-sheets formation in synthetic spider silk fibers by aqueous post-spin stretching. , 2011, Biomacromolecules.

[15]  T. Scheibel,et al.  Controlled hydrogel formation of a recombinant spider silk protein. , 2011, Biomacromolecules.

[16]  David L Kaplan,et al.  Lyophilized silk fibroin hydrogels for the sustained local delivery of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. , 2011, Biomaterials.

[17]  T. Blackledge,et al.  Evolution of supercontraction in spider silk: structure–function relationship from tarantulas to orb-weavers , 2010, Journal of Experimental Biology.

[18]  David L Kaplan,et al.  Silk hydrogel for cartilage tissue engineering. , 2010, Journal of biomedical materials research. Part B, Applied biomaterials.

[19]  Janelle E. Jenkins,et al.  Solid-state NMR evidence for elastin-like beta-turn structure in spider dragline silk. , 2010, Chemical communications.

[20]  S. Wohlrab,et al.  Structural characterization and functionalization of engineered spider silk films , 2010 .

[21]  Randolph V Lewis,et al.  A protocol for the production of recombinant spider silk-like proteins for artificial fiber spinning , 2009, Nature Protocols.

[22]  Xiaotong Zheng,et al.  Preparation and characterization of a novel electrospun spider silk fibroin/poly(D,L-lactide) composite fiber. , 2008, The journal of physical chemistry. B.

[23]  Janelle E. Jenkins,et al.  Determining secondary structure in spider dragline silk by carbon-carbon correlation solid-state NMR spectroscopy. , 2008, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[24]  C Russell Middaugh,et al.  Properties of synthetic spider silk fibers based on Argiope aurantia MaSp2. , 2008, Biomacromolecules.

[25]  Ray Gunawidjaja,et al.  Mechanical Properties of Robust Ultrathin Silk Fibroin Films , 2007 .

[26]  Josef H. Exler,et al.  The amphiphilic properties of spider silks are important for spinning. , 2007, Angewandte Chemie.

[27]  David L Kaplan,et al.  RGD-functionalized bioengineered spider dragline silk biomaterial. , 2006, Biomacromolecules.

[28]  F. Kremer,et al.  Structural Analysis of Spider Silk Films , 2006 .

[29]  Randolph V Lewis,et al.  Spider silk: ancient ideas for new biomaterials. , 2006, Chemical reviews.

[30]  T. Scheibel,et al.  Processing and modification of films made from recombinant spider silk proteins , 2006 .

[31]  R. Lewis,et al.  An investigation of the divergence of major ampullate silk fibers from Nephila clavipes and Argiope aurantia. , 2005, Biomacromolecules.

[32]  David L Kaplan,et al.  The inflammatory responses to silk films in vitro and in vivo. , 2005, Biomaterials.

[33]  T. Scheibel,et al.  Novel Assembly Properties of Recombinant Spider Dragline Silk Proteins , 2004, Current Biology.

[34]  Thomas Scheibel,et al.  Spider silks: recombinant synthesis, assembly, spinning, and engineering of synthetic proteins , 2004, Microbial cell factories.

[35]  Ung-Jin Kim,et al.  Structure and properties of silk hydrogels. , 2004, Biomacromolecules.

[36]  David L Kaplan,et al.  Macrophage responses to silk. , 2003, Biomaterials.

[37]  Christopher Viney,et al.  Fibre science: Supercontraction stress in wet spider dragline , 2002, Nature.

[38]  Steven Arcidiacono,et al.  Spider Silk Fibers Spun from Soluble Recombinant Silk Produced in Mammalian Cells , 2002, Science.

[39]  Jason W. Soares,et al.  Aqueous Processing and Fiber Spinning of Recombinant Spider Silks , 2002 .

[40]  R. Lewis,et al.  Extreme Diversity, Conservation, and Convergence of Spider Silk Fibroin Sequences , 2001, Science.

[41]  M B McCarthy,et al.  Functionalized silk-based biomaterials for bone formation. , 2001, Journal of biomedical materials research.

[42]  F Vollrath,et al.  X-ray diffraction on spider silk during controlled extrusion under a synchrotron radiation X-ray beam. , 2000, Biomacromolecules.

[43]  L. Jelinski,et al.  Regenerated Spider Silk: Processing, Properties, and Structure , 2000 .

[44]  J. Gosline,et al.  The mechanical design of spider silks: from fibroin sequence to mechanical function. , 1999, The Journal of experimental biology.

[45]  R. Lewis,et al.  Hypotheses that correlate the sequence, structure, and mechanical properties of spider silk proteins. , 1999, International journal of biological macromolecules.

[46]  L. Bedzyk,et al.  Production of synthetic spider dragline silk protein in Pichia pastoris , 1997, Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology.

[47]  R. Lewis,et al.  Expression and purification of a spider silk protein: a new strategy for producing repetitive proteins. , 1996, Protein expression and purification.

[48]  M B Hinman,et al.  Isolation of a clone encoding a second dragline silk fibroin. Nephila clavipes dragline silk is a two-protein fiber. , 1992, The Journal of biological chemistry.

[49]  R. Lewis,et al.  Structure of a protein superfiber: spider dragline silk. , 1990, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[50]  R. W. Work,et al.  A Physico-Chemical Study of the Supercontraction of Spider Major Ampullate Silk Fibers , 1982 .

[51]  R. W. Work.  A Comparative Study of the Supercontraction of Major Ampullate Silk Fibers of Orb-Web-Building Spiders (Araneae) , 1981 .