Spider Silk: The Network of Fibre

Spider silk, also known as gossamer, is a protein fiber spun by spiders. It is one of the most sought after biomaterial .Spider silk is one of nature’s most extraordinary substances. Due to its demand, and unavailability, it has even acquired the nickname, ‘Holy Grail’. This silk comes from the glands of the spider and is both flexible and light weight. It is exceptionally flexible, elastic, and lightweight, yet tough?three times as strong as Kevlar and five times as strong as steel!. And because it is natural, it is biodegradable and can be produced pollution-free. Furthermore, one of the most important qualities of spider silk is its endless versatility. Because of its less availability, spider silk is manufactured synthetically. Spider silk, synthetically made, could be used in countless applications with significant commercial impact and improvement to human life. X-ray diffraction studies have shown that the silk is composed of long amino acid chains that form protein crystals. Amino acids are composed of fibroin and sericin proteins which consists of 8- 10 Poly - alanine blocks and 24-35 glycine blocks. Fibroin - 40% glycine ,29% alanine ,10% glutamine,4% tyrosine, 3% proline and serine, leucine, valine, and arginine in less amount. The elasticity of spider silk is due to glycine-rich regions .The resulting beta-sheet crystals crosslink the fibroins into a polymer network with great stiffness, strength and toughness. This crystalline component is embedded in a rubbery component that permits extensibility. Dragline silk has more energy-absorbing capability than Kevlar and can absorb up to ten times more energy. The possible uses for synthetic spider silk are endless. They include applications in the industrial (high tension cords etc), Medical (drug delivery, Nerve guides) and military fields as well as in everyday uses. Spider silks could be used to create strong and flexible artificial ligaments and tendons, bandages and surgical thread. Spider silk could also be used to construct protective clothing or body armor. Current research focuses around these problems and a possible solution would be to adapt the composition of silk proteins to alter its properties. Research is still in its early stages but unraveling the secrets of spider silk is underway. Nevertheless, the strength and resilience of spider silk has amazed people for thousands of years, reading around, on and off the web, we get a lot of facts about the strength of spider silk that sometimes seem contradictory, although they all agree that spider silk is way stronger than any other silk or natural material.