Humans have long appreciated silk for its lustrous appeal and remarkable physical
properties, yet as the mysteries of silk are unraveled, it becomes clear that this outstanding …

The tiny spider makes dragline silk fibers with unbeatable toughness, all under the most
innocuous conditions. Scientists have persistently tried to emulate its natural silk spinning …

Spider silk fiber rapidly assembles from spidroin protein in soluble state via an incompletely
understood mechanism. Here, we present an integrated model for silk formation that …

Silk fibers' unique mechanical properties have made them desirable materials, yet their
formation mechanism remains poorly understood. While ions are known to support silk fiber …

Major ampullate (MA) spider silk has fascinating mechanical properties combining strength
and elasticity. All known natural MA silks contain at least two or more different spidroins; …

Tensan silk, a natural fiber produced by the Japanese oak silk moth (Antherea yamamai,
abbreviated to A. yamamai), features superior characteristics, such as compressive elasticity …

Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) of proteins can be considered an intermediate
solubility regime between disperse solutions and solid fibers. While LLPS has been …

Despite impressive progress in the field, there are still several major bottlenecks in
producing fibers from recombinantly produced spider‐silk‐like proteins to replicate the …

Spider silk is a protein material that exhibits extraordinary and nontrivial properties such as
the ability to soften and decrease its length by up to∼ 60% upon exposure to high humidity …

Phase transitions have an essential role in the assembly of nature's protein-based materials
into hierarchically organized structures, yet many of the underlying mechanisms and …