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A New Evidence of Lubrication Hypothesis on Nephila pilipes Spider Silk Spinning

View ORCID ProfileHsuan-Chen Wu, View ORCID ProfileShang-Ru Wu, View ORCID ProfileJen-Chang Yang
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/188771
Hsuan-Chen Wu
1Department of Biochemical Science and Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
2Research Center for Biomedical Devices and Prototyping Production, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan, ROC.
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Shang-Ru Wu
1Department of Biochemical Science and Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
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Jen-Chang Yang
2Research Center for Biomedical Devices and Prototyping Production, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan, ROC.
3Graduate Institute of Nanomedicine and Medical Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110-52, Taiwan, ROC.
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  • For correspondence: Yang820065@tmu.edu.tw
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Abstract

In spite of all the efforts on deciphering such spinning process of spiders, the underlying mechanism currently is yet to be fully revealed. In this research, we designed a novel approach to quantitatively estimate the overall concentration change of spider silk along the progression of liquid-to-solid silk transition from the gland silk. As a prior characterization, we first studied the influence of silking-rate, ranged from 1.5 to 8.0 m/min, on spun fiber diameters as well as fiber strengths. Furthermore, the liquid contents of silk in the sac and the silk fibers leaving the spinneret were investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and by estimating the ratio of collected dried silk to the weight loss of spider, respectively. The strength of spun silk fiber showed in the range of 7.5 - 8.5 g/denier; while, the fiber diameter of 0.7 - 1.1 deniers for spun silk first increased then decreased with take-up speed of winder. The results showed that the percentage liquid content of silk stored in the major ampullate sac (50.0 wt%) was lower than that of silk leaving the spinnerets (80.9 - 96.1 wt%), indicating a liquid supplying mechanism might be involved during the spinning process. Thus, a hypothesis of liquid coating on the outer surface of the silk thread served as a lubrication layer to reduce the silking resistance in spinning spigot of spider was proposed. In addition, we speculated the spigot serves as a valve-like regulator that controls not only the fiber diameter but also the lubrication layer. These findings provide understanding in physiological function of the spider spinning process and could further shed some light on future biomimetic development of silk material fabrication.

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Posted September 15, 2017.
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A New Evidence of Lubrication Hypothesis on Nephila pilipes Spider Silk Spinning
Hsuan-Chen Wu, Shang-Ru Wu, Jen-Chang Yang
bioRxiv 188771; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/188771
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A New Evidence of Lubrication Hypothesis on Nephila pilipes Spider Silk Spinning
Hsuan-Chen Wu, Shang-Ru Wu, Jen-Chang Yang
bioRxiv 188771; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/188771

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