Figure 1.

A. An adult female orb weaver spider Nephila clavipes and her web.

B. Schematic overview of N. clavipes web composed of three different spider silk proteins and their structures. The coloured boxes indicate the structural motifs in silk proteins. An empty box marked ‘?’ indicates that the secondary structure of the ‘spacer’ region is unknown. Note: MaSp1 or MaSp2: major ampullate spidroin 1 or 2; MiSp1 and 2: minor ampullate spidroin1 and 2; Flag: flagelliform protein. The photo was taken by Olena and Artem Tokarev in the Florida Keys.