Brown recluse spider's nanometer scale ribbons of stiff extensible silk.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 24352987.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1002/adma.201302740.
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Abstract
The silk of the recluse spider features a ribbon-like morphology unlike any other spider silk or synthetically spun polymer fiber. These protein ribbons represent free-standing polymer films with a thickness of about 50 nm. Stress-strain characterization of individual fibers via atomic force microscopy reveals that these ribbons, only a few molecular layers of protein thin, rival the mechanical performance of the best silks.