Issue 9, 2012

Direct visualization of shear dependent silk fibrillogenesis

Abstract

Silk's desirable properties originate from the development of a multiscale hierarchical structure produced during spinning, but little is known regarding the origin of the micro and nano fibrils that are consistent and prominent features of spun fibres. This raises the important question: can shearing alone generate these filaments, or is further input and control by the physiology/morphology of the silk duct required? Combining confocal microscopy with rheology provides unique insights into the direct connection between applied shear and the fibrillation of silk proteins in as close to in vivo conditions as currently possible. Our measurements demonstrate that unlike typical synthetic polymers, native silk proteins are able to spontaneously self-assemble, fibrillate and develop hierarchical structures upon controlled shearing, and that the shear induced fibrilogenesis is accompanied by dramatic changes in the rheological response. These observations suggest that natural spinning may be far less complex than previously assumed.

Graphical abstract: Direct visualization of shear dependent silk fibrillogenesis

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
03 Oct 2011
Accepted
01 Dec 2011
First published
16 Dec 2011

Soft Matter, 2012,8, 2590-2594

Direct visualization of shear dependent silk fibrillogenesis

C. Holland, J. S. Urbach and D. L. Blair, Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 2590 DOI: 10.1039/C2SM06886A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements