Abstract
We studied physiological conditions during the spinning of dragline silk by the garden cross spider, Araneus diadematus. Silk is converted from the liquid feedstock in the gland into a solid thread via a tapering tubular duct and exits at a spigot. The distal part of the tubule appears specialized for ion transport and the management of the pH inside the lumen. Thus, it appears that spider silk in vivo, like some industrial polymers in vitro, is spun through an acid bath.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (155.5 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Bulychev A., Trouet A., Tulkens P. Uptake and intracellular distribution of neutral red in cultured fibroblasts. Exp Cell Res. 1978 Sep;115(2):343–355. doi: 10.1016/0014-4827(78)90288-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Fok A. K., Aihara M. S., Ishida M., Nolta K. V., Steck T. L., Allen R. D. The pegs on the decorated tubules of the contractile vacuole complex of Paramecium are proton pumps. J Cell Sci. 1995 Oct;108(Pt 10):3163–3170. doi: 10.1242/jcs.108.10.3163. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Kovoor J., Zylberberg L. Morphologie et ultrastructure du canal des glandes ampullacées d'Araneus diadematus Clerck (Arachnida, Araneidae. Z Zellforsch Mikrosk Anat. 1972;128(2):188–211. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lubansky H. J., Arruda J. A. Plasma membrane proton-ATPase of a turtle bladder epithelial cell line. J Biol Chem. 1985 Apr 10;260(7):4035–4040. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Mayahara H., Fujimoto K., Ando T., Ogawa K. A new one-step method for the cytochemical localization of ouabain-sensitive, potassium-dependent p-nitrophenylphosphatase activity. Histochemistry. 1980;67(2):125–138. doi: 10.1007/BF00493231. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Sit K. H., Paramanantham R., Bay B. H., Wong K. P. Acidification and recovery results in nuclear accumulation of supravital dyes during interphase. Biotech Histochem. 1996 Jul;71(4):173–181. doi: 10.3109/10520299609117156. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]