Integrating Experimental Biophysics and Computational Tools to Elucidate Spider Silk Formation

TIME: 3:30 PM

LOCATION: GMCS 314

SPEAKER: Gregory Holland, Chemistry & Biochemistry, San Diego State University

ABSTRACT:

Over 300 million years spiders have evolved to produce seven different silk types and one glue-like substance. Spider silks are comprised almost entirely of protein and are used for a diverse range of applications including web construction, egg case production and wrapping prey. The silks vary dramatically in their mechanical and physical properties with the major ampullate silk (dragline) exhibiting a strength that exceeds high-tensile steel by weight and a toughness greater than Kevlar while, flagelliform silk has an elasticity comparable to rubber. Thus, spiders produce a whole library of materials to exploit through biomimicry. Our lab deploys a broad range of structural biology tools to investigate spider silk proteins in solution and within the final spun fibers. In recent years, we have significantly grown the computational and simulation aspect of this research to include coarse grained and atomistic molecular dynamics simulation (MD) together with predictive modeling (AlphaFold2). We have found that combining experimental biophysical data with computational approaches is providing an unprecedented level of understanding across hierarchical length and timescales for spider silk assembly. It is the structural transitions and hierarchical organization of these proteins that imparts spider silks their impressive yet, diverse mechanical and physical properties. It is our belief that a better fundamental understanding of spider silk protein structure and the biochemically driven assembly processes will accelerate the ability to mimic and reproduce similar biomimetic materials in the lab.

HOST: Christopher Paolini

VIDEO: