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Spider silk structure: crystalline beta-sheets separated by amorphous linkages. Silks have a hierarchical structure. The primary structure is the amino acid sequence of its proteins (), mainly consisting of highly repetitive glycine and alanine blocks, [4] [5] which is why silks are often referred to as a block co-polymer.
Spiders make spider silk for various purposes such as weaving their webs, protecting their eggs or as a safety line. The amphipod Peramphithoe femorata uses silk to make a nest out of kelp blades. Another amphipod, Crassicorophium bonellii, use silk to build shelter. Carp produce fibroin units, a component of silk, to attach their eggs to rocks ...
Sericulture, or silk farming, is the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, the caterpillar of the domestic silkmoth is the most widely used and intensively studied silkworm.
Silk proteins present in other spider silk types are also occasionally referred to as spidroin. These include tubuliform silk protein (TuSP), flagelliform silk protein (Flag; O44358 - Q9NHW4 - O44359 ), minor ampullate silk proteins (MiSp; K4MTL7 ), aciniform silk protein (AcSP), pyriform silk protein (PySp) and aggregate silk glue (ASG2/AgSp).
Silk taken from various species has been used since ancient times, either in its natural state or after some form of preparation. Spider webs were used as a wound dressing in ancient Greece and Rome, [2] and as a base for painting from the 16th century. [3] Caterpillar nests were used to make containers and fabric in the Aztec Empire. [1] [4]
In spiders, the calamistrum is a row of specialized leg bristles used to comb out fine bands of silk. [1] It is only found on cribellate spiders, that is, spiders that possess the spinning organ known as the cribellum. [2] The calamistrum and cribellum are used to form the hackled bands of silk which are characteristic of the webs of these ...
François Xavier Bon de Saint Hilaire (1678–1761), president of the Court of Auditors of Montpellier, demonstrated in 1709 that he could make fabric from spider silk. Many egg cocoons were boiled, washed and dried and the thread was collected with fine combs. By this method, he produced three pairs of spider silk stockings and gloves.
Silkhenge structures are a means of spider reproduction used by one or more currently-unknown species of spider. It typically consists of a central " spire " constructed of spider silk , containing one to two eggs, surrounded by a sort of fence of silk in a circle.