Silk from crickets: a new twist on spinning.

Raspy crickets (Orthoptera: Gryllacrididae) are unique among the orthopterans in producing silk, which is used to build shelters. This work studied the material composition and the fabrication of cricket silk for the first time. We examined silk-webs produced in captivity, which comprised cylindrica...

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Autores principales: Andrew A Walker, Sarah Weisman, Jeffrey S Church, David J Merritt, Stephen T Mudie, Tara D Sutherland
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Publicado: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/bb1f87595de84608ab2fbae908f9d325
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:bb1f87595de84608ab2fbae908f9d3252021-11-18T07:28:16ZSilk from crickets: a new twist on spinning.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0030408https://doaj.org/article/bb1f87595de84608ab2fbae908f9d3252012-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/22355311/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Raspy crickets (Orthoptera: Gryllacrididae) are unique among the orthopterans in producing silk, which is used to build shelters. This work studied the material composition and the fabrication of cricket silk for the first time. We examined silk-webs produced in captivity, which comprised cylindrical fibers and flat films. Spectra obtained from micro-Raman experiments indicated that the silk is composed of protein, primarily in a beta-sheet conformation, and that fibers and films are almost identical in terms of amino acid composition and secondary structure. The primary sequences of four silk proteins were identified through a mass spectrometry/cDNA library approach. The most abundant silk protein was large in size (300 and 220 kDa variants), rich in alanine, glycine and serine, and contained repetitive sequence motifs; these are features which are shared with several known beta-sheet forming silk proteins. Convergent evolution at the molecular level contrasts with development by crickets of a novel mechanism for silk fabrication. After secretion of cricket silk proteins by the labial glands they are fabricated into mature silk by the labium-hypopharynx, which is modified to allow the controlled formation of either fibers or films. Protein folding into beta-sheet structure during silk fabrication is not driven by shear forces, as is reported for other silks.Andrew A WalkerSarah WeismanJeffrey S ChurchDavid J MerrittStephen T MudieTara D SutherlandPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 2, p e30408 (2012)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Medicine
R
Science
Q
spellingShingle Medicine
R
Science
Q
Andrew A Walker
Sarah Weisman
Jeffrey S Church
David J Merritt
Stephen T Mudie
Tara D Sutherland
Silk from crickets: a new twist on spinning.
description Raspy crickets (Orthoptera: Gryllacrididae) are unique among the orthopterans in producing silk, which is used to build shelters. This work studied the material composition and the fabrication of cricket silk for the first time. We examined silk-webs produced in captivity, which comprised cylindrical fibers and flat films. Spectra obtained from micro-Raman experiments indicated that the silk is composed of protein, primarily in a beta-sheet conformation, and that fibers and films are almost identical in terms of amino acid composition and secondary structure. The primary sequences of four silk proteins were identified through a mass spectrometry/cDNA library approach. The most abundant silk protein was large in size (300 and 220 kDa variants), rich in alanine, glycine and serine, and contained repetitive sequence motifs; these are features which are shared with several known beta-sheet forming silk proteins. Convergent evolution at the molecular level contrasts with development by crickets of a novel mechanism for silk fabrication. After secretion of cricket silk proteins by the labial glands they are fabricated into mature silk by the labium-hypopharynx, which is modified to allow the controlled formation of either fibers or films. Protein folding into beta-sheet structure during silk fabrication is not driven by shear forces, as is reported for other silks.
format article
author Andrew A Walker
Sarah Weisman
Jeffrey S Church
David J Merritt
Stephen T Mudie
Tara D Sutherland
author_facet Andrew A Walker
Sarah Weisman
Jeffrey S Church
David J Merritt
Stephen T Mudie
Tara D Sutherland
author_sort Andrew A Walker
title Silk from crickets: a new twist on spinning.
title_short Silk from crickets: a new twist on spinning.
title_full Silk from crickets: a new twist on spinning.
title_fullStr Silk from crickets: a new twist on spinning.
title_full_unstemmed Silk from crickets: a new twist on spinning.
title_sort silk from crickets: a new twist on spinning.
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate 2012
url https://doaj.org/article/bb1f87595de84608ab2fbae908f9d325
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AT sarahweisman silkfromcricketsanewtwistonspinning
AT jeffreyschurch silkfromcricketsanewtwistonspinning
AT davidjmerritt silkfromcricketsanewtwistonspinning
AT stephentmudie silkfromcricketsanewtwistonspinning
AT taradsutherland silkfromcricketsanewtwistonspinning
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