... at all. Cribellar Processing Uloboridae Filistatidae Silk Protein There are several ways to determine whether cribellate nanofibres are indeed electrostatically charged and whether such charging helps formation of a puffy structure: (1) one can try to regenerate the puffy structure...

.... ( 2004 ). The color of dragline silk produced in captivity by the spider Nephila clavipes . Polymer   45 , 1933 - 1937 . 10.1016/j.polymer.2004.01.020 Riley , P. A. ( 1997 ). Melanin . Int. J. Biochem. Cell Biol.   29 , 1235 - 1239 . 10.1016/S1357-2725(97)00013-7 Riou , M...

...-demanding, decisions carry over to individual performance is rarely studied in arthropods. We used spiders as a model system to test how single investments in silk use – for dispersal or predator escape – affect individual performance. Silk produced for safe lines and as threads for ballooning...

... with varying levels of natural exposure. Adhesion Biomaterials Toughness Silk Ultraviolet Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) introduces free radical oxidative stress to organisms and biological materials, resulting in damaged cellular components including DNA and proteins ( Tyrrell, 1995 ; Osaki...

..., comparable to that of other silks, such as major ampullate gland silk and silkworm silk. Nevertheless, application of a statistical analysis allowed the identification of two independent parameters that underlie the variability and characterize the observed range of true stress–true strain curves...

...Cecilia Boutry; Todd A. Blackledge SUMMARY Like many biomaterials, spider silk responds to water through softening and swelling. Major ampullate silk, the main structural element of most prey capture webs, also shrinks dramatically if unrestrained or develops high tension if restrained...

...Fujia Chen; Thomas Hesselberg; David Porter; Fritz Vollrath SUMMARY Silk cocoons, constructed by silkmoths (Lepidoptera), are protective structural composites. Some cocoons appear to have evolved towards structural and material optimisation in order to sustain impact strikes from predators...

...Rainer F. Foelix; Bastian Rast; Anne M. Peattie SUMMARY Controversial views have been expressed about whether tarantula feet can secrete fine silk threads that could prevent them from falling off smooth vertical surfaces. Two studies have claimed that ‘ribbed hairs’ on the tarsi of tarantulas...

...G. V. Guinea; M. Elices; J. Pérez-Rigueiro; G. R. Plaza SUMMARY The spinning of spider silk requires a combination of aqueous environment and stretching, and the aim of this work was to explore the role of stretching silk fibers in an aqueous environment and its effect on the tensile properties...

...J. M. Gosline; P. A. Guerette; C. S. Ortlepp; K. N. Savage ABSTRACT Spiders produce a variety of silks, and the cloning of genes for silk fibroins reveals a clear link between protein sequence and structure–property relationships. The fibroins produced in the spider’s major ampullate (MA) gland...

...Robert W. Work ABSTRACT The axial retractive stresses that cause the supercontraction of wetted major ampullate silk fibres and the stresses developed upon reextension from the supercontracted condition are quantified and illustrated. The viscoelastic behaviour of major ampullate silk fibres...