Humans have long appreciated silk for its lustrous appeal and remarkable physical
properties, yet as the mysteries of silk are unraveled, it becomes clear that this outstanding …

Molecular biology has been led by various measurement technologies, and increased
throughput has developed omics analysis. The development of massively parallel …

Spider silks are among the toughest known materials and thus provide models for
renewable, biodegradable, and sustainable biopolymers. However, the entirety of their …

Genomic analyses are sensitive to contamination in public databases caused by incorrectly
labeled reference sequences. Here, we describe Conterminator, an efficient method to …

Spider silk fiber rapidly assembles from spidroin protein in soluble state via an incompletely
understood mechanism. Here, we present an integrated model for silk formation that …

Nanofibrils play a pivotal role in spider silk and are responsible for many of the impressive
properties of this unique natural material. However, little is known about the internal …

There is an urgent need to improve the sustainability of the materials we produce and use.
Here, we explore what humans can learn from nature about how to sustainably fabricate …

Spider silk is the toughest fiber found in nature, and bulk production of artificial spider silk
that matches its mechanical properties remains elusive. Development of miniature spider …

Despite significant efforts to engineer their heterologous production, recombinant spider silk
proteins (spidroins) have yet to replicate the unparalleled combination of high strength and …

Background The duplication of genes can occur through various mechanisms and is thought
to make a major contribution to the evolutionary diversification of organisms. There is …