eprintid: 41139 rev_number: 25 eprint_status: archive userid: 1903 dir: disk0/00/04/11/39 datestamp: 2017-04-25 16:44:20 lastmod: 2022-11-30 09:00:00 status_changed: 2017-04-25 16:44:20 type: article metadata_visibility: show creators_name: Perea Abarca, Gracia Belén creators_name: Solanas, Concepción creators_name: Plaza Baonza, Gustavo Ramón creators_name: Guinea Tortuero, Gustavo V. creators_name: Jorge, Inmaculada creators_name: Vázquez Minguela, Jesús creators_name: Pérez Mateos, Jorge creators_name: Marí Buyé, Nuria creators_name: Elices Calafat, Manuel creators_name: Pérez Rigueiro, José creators_id: jperez@mater.upm.es title: Unexpected behavior of irradiated spider silk links conformational freedom to mechanical performance ispublished: pub subjects: medicina abstract: Silk fibers from Argiope trifasciata and Nephila inaurata orb-web weaving spiders were UV irradiated to modify the molecular weight of the constituent proteins. Fibers were characterized either as forcibly silked or after being subjected to maximum supercontraction. The effect of irradiation on supercontraction was also studied, both in terms of the percentage of supercontraction and the tensile properties exhibited by irradiated and subsequently supercontracted fibers. The effects of UV exposure at the molecular level were assessed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. It is shown that UV-irradiated fibers show a steady decrease in their main tensile parameters, most notably, tensile strength and strain. The combination of the mechanical and biochemical data suggests that the restricted conformational freedom of the proteins after UV irradiation is critical in the reduction of these properties. Consequently, an adequate topological organization of the protein chains emerges as a critical design principle in the performance of spider silk. date: 2015-05 date_type: published publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry official_url: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2015/SM/C5SM00395D#!divAbstract id_number: 10.1039/c5sm00395d full_text_status: public publication: Soft Matter volume: 11 number: 24 pagerange: 4868-4878 institution: Tecnologia_Biomedica department: Ciencia_Materiales refereed: TRUE issn: 1744-683X rights: by-nc-nd comprojects_type: MINECO comprojects_type: CM comprojects_code: MAT2012-38412-C02-01 comprojects_code: S2011/BMD-2460 citation: Perea Abarca, Gracia Belén and Solanas, Concepción and Plaza Baonza, Gustavo Ramón and Guinea Tortuero, Gustavo V. and Jorge, Inmaculada and Vázquez Minguela, Jesús and Pérez Mateos, Jorge and Marí Buyé, Nuria and Elices Calafat, Manuel and Pérez Rigueiro, José (2015). Unexpected behavior of irradiated spider silk links conformational freedom to mechanical performance. "Soft Matter", v. 11 (n. 24); pp. 4868-4878. ISSN 1744-683X. https://doi.org/10.1039/c5sm00395d . document_url: https://oa.upm.es/41139/1/INVE_MEM_2015_226685.pdf