Collaborative Research: Comparative analyses of structural designs underlying functional performance of the toughest spider silk

蜘蛛丝是自然界中最坚韧的材料，具有激发新一代高性能合成生物材料的巨大潜力。在马达加斯加的热带雨林中，达尔文吠蛛用一种比任何已知蜘蛛所产的丝都要坚韧得多的丝在河流和湖泊上织出巨大的圆网。该项目旨在了解达尔文吠蛛如何产生这种“超级”蛛丝，以及蛛丝在这些巨大的蛛网中如何发挥作用。通过与密切相关的物种进行比较，该项目将测试在达尔文的树皮蜘蛛中发现的新发现的纺纱腺修饰和丝蛋白如何相互作用以产生超坚韧的丝，以及这些特征是否是在河流中纺制巨型网所必需的。从这些特殊的蜘蛛中获得的见解将有助于开发超级丝蛋白，从而激发新的高性能材料的设计。学生和博士后研究人员将接受培训，通过直接参与美国和马达加斯加的项目，以及通过开发各种课程的课程，包括阿克伦大学仿生研究和创新中心提供的课程，进行跨学科研究。向公众展示这些迷人蜘蛛的自然历史将为生物多样性研究与技术创新提供一个平台。 这种更广泛的影响将通过佛蒙特大学自然历史博物馆的展览和洛厄尔国家历史公园聪格斯工业历史中心5-9年级学生的教育活动来实现。该项目将调查丝绸生产，达尔文吠蛛结构与生物力学（Caerostris darwini）及其近亲在一个比较的框架，以确定关键的设计特点，潜在的超强硬的丝绸，以及他们如何演变与网络生态。其目标是：1）量化的拖丝纤维和运动学的Caerostris网的材料特性; 2）表征的结构蛋白质和纺纱腺形态，形成Caerostris拖丝;和3）开发一个强大的Caerostris物种的亲缘关系，以推断进化的原因和后果，非常坚韧的丝绸。这项工作将丝蛋白的基因组和蛋白质组学分析与丝线的功能表征以及网络功能和蜘蛛生态学的有限元建模相结合。由基因组分析提供的进化框架将测试哪些特征促进了超坚韧丝的起源及其对巨型蜘蛛网进化的影响。

Spider silks are the toughest materials in nature and hold immense promise to inspire a new generation of high-performance synthetic biomaterials. In the rainforests of Madagascar, Darwin's bark spider spins giant orb webs across rivers and lakes using a silk that is far tougher than silk produced by any other known spider. This project aims to understand how Darwin's bark spider produces such 'super' silk and how the silk functions in these giant webs. Through comparison to closely related species, the project will test how newly discovered spinning gland modifications and silk proteins found in Darwin's bark spider interact to produce super tough silk, and if those features are necessary to spin giant webs across rivers. Insight gained from these exceptional spiders will aid in the development of super-silk proteins that can inspire the design of new high-performance materials. Students and postdoctoral researchers will be trained to conduct interdisciplinary research, through direct participation in the project in the US and Madagascar, and through the development of curriculum for a variety of courses, including those offered by The University of Akron's Biomimicry Research and Innovation Center. Public outreach showcasing the natural history of these engaging spiders will provide a platform for linking the study of biodiversity to technological innovation. Such broader impacts will be achieved through an exhibit at the University of Vermont's Natural History Museum and educational activities for students in grades 5-9 at the Tsongas Industrial History Center at Lowell National Historical Park.This project will investigate silk production, structure and biomechanics among Darwin's bark spider (Caerostris darwini) and its close relatives in a comparative framework to determine the key design features underlying super-tough silk and how they evolved with web ecology. The objectives are to: 1) quantify the material properties of dragline fibers and kinematics of Caerostris webs; 2) characterize the structural proteins and spinning gland morphology that form Caerostris dragline silk; and 3) develop a robust Caerostris species phylogeny to infer the evolutionary causes and consequences of extremely tough silk. The work integrates genomic and proteomic analyses of silk proteins with functional characterization of silk threads and finite element modelling of web function and spider ecology. An evolutionary framework provided by phylogenomic analyses will test which traits facilitated the origin of super-tough silk and its implications for the evolution of giant spider webs.