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General Methods to Produce and Assemble Recombinant Spider Silk Proteins

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Fibrous Proteins

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2347))

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Abstract

Orb-weaving spiders are known to spin up to seven types of silks/glues from different silk glands. The inherent mechanical variety of these silks makes them attractive models for a variety of biomaterial design, from superglues to extremely strong and/or extendible fibers. Spider silk spinning is a process in which spinning dope stored in specific glands assembles into fibrils upon chemical and mechanical stimuli. The exploration of silk protein assembly into controllable filaments is vital for both uncovering biological functions and molecular structure relationship, as well as fabricating new biomaterials. This chapter describes the methods for biosynthesis and assembly of recombinant spider silk proteins, which will provide insights into the mechanism exploration of fiber formation and spider silk-based material manufacture.

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Acknowledgments

The author acknowledges insightful discussion and suggestions from Prof. Shengjie Ling and thanks Dr. Zhaowei Wu from ShanghaiTech University for the helpful suggestions with the production of recombinant spider silk proteins . Financial support was provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51703128).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, China

    Na Kong

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  1. Na Kong
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Correspondence to Na Kong .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, China

    Shengjie Ling

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Kong, N. (2021). General Methods to Produce and Assemble Recombinant Spider Silk Proteins. In: Ling, S. (eds) Fibrous Proteins. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2347. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1574-4_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1574-4_6

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-1573-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-1574-4

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