Spider Silk and the Silk of Egg Sacs with its Astonishing Concealed Attributes: A Review

ABSTRACT

Spiders often generate several forms of silk fiber, each with distinctive qualities befitting them with certain activities and biological processes. The egg sacs of spiders are multilayered, complex structures that contain fibers from a variety of glands. The female lays her eggs in egg sacs that are safe from both living and nonliving elements. There are a few reviews of spider webs and silk, but none of her egg sacs. Our understanding of the relationship between protein structure, mechanical characteristics, antimicrobial activity, and ecological role of these exceptional biomaterials will expand and improve by examining egg sac silk. We address the current state of knowledge about spider egg sac silk and its processing method, as well as the use of egg sac silk-based materials in biomedicine and materials engineering. This review elucidates the structure, fiber composition, defense mechanism, mechanical strength, coloration, and antimicrobial activity of egg sac silk fibers. Spider egg sac silk-based materials have the potential to lead to advanced resistant and usable materials, making them one of the most exciting areas of research in material science. Future researchers will be able to take a more holistic approach as a result of it.

摘要

蜘蛛通常产生几种形式的丝纤维, 每种丝纤维都具有独特的性质, 适合它们进行某些活动和生物过程. 蜘蛛的卵囊是多层的复杂结构, 含有来自各种腺体的纤维. 雌性在卵囊中产卵, 卵囊不受生物和非生物的影响. 有一些关于蜘蛛网和丝绸的评论, 但没有一个是她的卵囊. 我们对这些特殊生物材料的蛋白质结构、力学特性、抗菌活性和生态作用之间的关系的理解将通过检查卵囊丝而得到扩展和改进. 我们介绍了蜘蛛卵囊丝及其加工方法的知识现状, 以及卵囊丝基材料在生物医学和材料工程中的应用. 本文综述了卵囊丝纤维的结构、纤维组成、防御机制、机械强度、染色和抗菌活性. 蜘蛛卵囊丝基材料有潜力开发出先进的抗性和可用材料, 使其成为材料科学中最令人兴奋的研究领域之一. 因此, 未来的研究人员将能够采取更全面的方法.

KEYWORDS:

• Antimicrobial activity
• biomedicine
• defense mechanism
• glands
• materials engineering
• spider silk fibers

关键词:

• 抗菌活性
• 生物医学
• 防卫机制
• 腺体
• 材料工程
• 蜘蛛丝纤维

Acknowledgments

The first author thankful to the Head, Department of Zoology, Dr Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar for providing laboratory facility and financially supported by the University Grants Commission with Non-Net fellowship.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Highlights

The ethos of the research:

• Spider silk is a one of a kind natural material with a rare combination of high tensile strength and elasticity.

• Despite knowing that spider silk assets seem to be the subject of countless research findings for even more than half a century, the focus has been on studies of dragline variants until recently, while the characterization of spider silk used to create egg sacs has remained grossly understudied for a long time.

• The egg sacs of spiders are multilayered, complex structures that contain fibres from a variety of glands.

• The majority of spider silk research is driven by the biomimetic potential for developing the “next generation” of fibres to be used by the military, industry, and medicine, instead of by comprehending biology.

• An effort has been made to investigate the silk of spider egg sacs and its advantages, as it is harder, stiffer, and has antibacterial qualities, among other things.

• Understanding the relationship between structure and properties would likely contribute to the creation of a number of high-performance, personalized materials and devices in the future.

Novel and unique about the study

• The purpose of this review is to provide an update on our understanding of the role of spider egg sacs in today’s world.

• There are a few reviews published on spider silk, however till date there is no review on her egg sacs.

• The analysis of the egg sac silk will expand and improve our understanding of the relationship between the protein structure, mechanical performance and ecological function of these unique biomaterials.