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Spider Silk Dawson Bausman March 28, 2002
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Variations Golden Orb Web Weaver
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Spider Silk Where does it come from? What is it? What are its advantageous properties? How can it be mass produced? What are the applications?
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Where does it come from?
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The seven glands are: Ampulleceae major and minor for walking threads and dragline Pyriformes for the attaching threads Aciniformes for encapsulating prey Tubiliformes for the silk of the egg-sac Coronatae threads for the axis of the sticking threads Glandula aggregata for the sticky binding material
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Silk Releasing Tubes 100-50,000 tubes Strands as small as 20 nanometers
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Each fiber only 4 to 5 microns in diameter Entire strand about 15 to 20 microns in diameter
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What is it? 30% to 45% crystalline
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What is it? More than 50% of silk is a polymerized protein called fibroine.
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What is it? Exact sequence and structure unknown (at least unpublished) Main contents are 7 natural Amino Acids Alanine and Glycine Glutamine, Leucine, Arginine, Tyrosine, Serine
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What is it? 2 Alanine rich proteins embedded in a jelly like glycine rich polymer 1 protein is highly ordered crystalline, other is not ordered. These proteins give toughness.
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What is it? How can proteins compete with Kevlar???
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Advantageous Properties Tailorable Properties
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Advantageous Properties Normal5x20x
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Diameter Average is.15 mm Smallest Measured is.02 mm Human Detection Insect Detection of the web
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Advantageous Properties Coated with antiseptic agents (pyrolidin, potassium hydrogen phosphate and potassium nitrate) Process proteins from water based solutions Water
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Mechanical Properties Inelastic or Elastic Tough at low temperatures Tensile Strength of 400,000 lbs / sq. in 25% lighter than other synthetic petroleum based fibers Specific Strength
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Nature vs. Man Nature is uncertain and slow Farming is not possible
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Mass Production 22,000 base pairs to the genetic sequence Believed to only need 300 of these pairs
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Mass Production Plants, Fungi, Bacteria Mammals
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Webster and Pete
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Stress Strain
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Draw Ratio
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Uses Past – WWI Cross hairs, Tribal uses
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Uses Medical - sutures, tendons, ligaments –$10,000/gram
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Uses Textile Industry
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Automotive Industry
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Bullet Proof Vests
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Space Station Coatings
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Biodegradable Fishing Line
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Spider Man
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Conclusions: Spider Silk is an excellent tailorable fiber material There is quite a bit of work yet to be done to perfect the process of making silk There are many potential applications of silk
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Acknowledgements: Jeffery Turner and Chantal LaRouche of Nexia Biotechnologies David Knight and Fritz Vollrath of Oxford University Randy Lewis of the University of Wyoming
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QUESTIONS?
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