Materials World Network: Structural design and micromechanical properties of mechanotransducing biological materials

该项目的优点在于了解自然振动感受器中发现的原理，以及在材料层面上从蜘蛛缝隙生物传感系统中检测机械信号的机制。蜘蛛应力敏感型缝隙感受器的角质层形态、层级结构组织和微观力学特性的空间分布之间的直接空间相关性的研究将是本项目的关键。我们将探索这些嵌入蜘蛛外骨骼中的机械感受器随时间变化的微机械特性，并将这些发现与这些器官作为敏感和选择性振动过滤器的功能联系起来。我们认为，角质层的微观机械性能取决于蛋白质纳米纤维的排列和取向以及缝隙周围蛋白质基质的性质，是缝隙压缩过程中依赖于时间的机械响应以及外部机械刺激的有效透过率和过滤的关键参数。最终，这些知识可以用于未来生物启发的机械响应和自适应纳米结构材料的设计和开发。在我们的研究中，我们将解决几个重要的问题：生物材料的空间化学组成和分子/超分子结构组织如何定义局部力学性能？生物感官受体随时间变化的机械行为如何与敏感的高通过滤特性相关联？在振动刺激下，生物材料的空间和变形检测的极限是什么？生物材料的弹性、粘弹性和动态变形模式的哪些主要元素可能被考虑用于未来合成分层自适应材料的生物灵感设计？

The merit of the project is in the understanding of principles found in natural vibrational receptors and the mechanism of mechanical signal detection from the spider slit biosensory system at the material level. The investigation of the direct spatial correlation among cuticule morphology, hierarchical structural organization and spatial distribution of micromechanical properties in spider stress-sensing slit-sensilla will be a crucial point of this project. We will explore the time-dependent micromechanical properties of these mechano-receptors embedded in the spider exoskeleton with high spatial resolution (down to a few nanometers) and relate the findings to the function of these organs as sensitive and selective vibration filters. We suggest that the micromechanical properties of the cuticle, which are dependent on the protein nanofiber arrangement and orientation as well as the properties of the protein matrix around the slits, are key parameters for the time-dependent mechanical response during slit compression and the efficient transmittance and filtering of external mechanical stimuli. Ultimately, this knowledge can be utilized in the future design and development of bio-inspired mechanoresponsive and adaptive nanostructured materials. In our study, we will address several important questions: How do the spatial chemical composition and molecular/supramolecular structural organization of biological materials define localized mechanical properties? How can time-dependent mechanical behavior of biosensory receptors be correlated with sensitive high-pass filtering properties? What are the limits of spatial and deformational detection in biomaterials under vibrational stimuli? Which major elements of elastic, viscoelastic, and dynamic deformational modes of biomaterials might be considered for future bioinspired design of synthetic hierarchical adaptive materials?