Nature Reviews Materials 2018-03-06

Uncovering the structure–function relationship in spider silk

Jeffery L. Yarger, Brian R. Cherry, Arjan van der Vaart

Index: 10.1038/natrevmats.2018.8

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Abstract

Uncovering the structure–function relationship in spider silk Uncovering the structure–function relationship in spider silk, Published online: 06 March 2018; doi:10.1038/natrevmats.2018.8Experimental and computational studies reveal numerous aspects of the molecular and hierarchical structure of spider silk and of its molecular dynamics. In this Review, we discuss the structure–function relationships of spider silk that can be elucidated from these studies and how this knowledge may enable the reverse engineering of spider silk.