NANOSTRUCTURE CHARACTERIZATION OF BETA-SHEET CRYSTALS IN SILK UNDER VARIOUS TEMPERATURES

Abstract

This paper studies the nanostructure characterizations of β-sheet in silk fiber with different reaction temperatures. A molecular dynamic model is developed and simulated by Gromacs software packages. The results reveal the change rules of the number of hydrogen bonds in β-sheet under different temperatures. The best reaction temperature for the β-sheet crystals is also found. This work provides theoretical basis for the designing of materials based on silk.

Keywords

Dates

  • Submission Date2014-01-18
  • Revision Date2014-05-10
  • Acceptance Date2014-07-23
  • Online Date2015-01-04

DOI Reference

10.2298/TSCI1405459Z

References

  1. Becker, N., et al., Molecular Nanosprings in Spider Capture-Silk Threads, Nature Materials, 2 (2003), 4, pp. 278-283
  2. Shao, Z. Z., Vollrath, F., Materials: Surprising Strength of Silkworm Silk, Nature, 418 (2002), 6899, pp. 741-741
  3. Vollrath, F., Knight, D. P., Liquid Crystalline Spinning of Spider Silk, Nature, 410 (2001), 6828, pp. 541-548
  4. Hayashi, C. Y., et al., Hypotheses that Correlate the Sequence, Structure, and Mechanical Properties of Spider Silk Proteins, International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 24 (1999), 2-3, pp. 271-275
  5. Du, N., et al., Design of Superior Spider Silk: from Nanostructure to Mechanical Properties, Biophysical Journal, 91 (2006), 12, pp. 4528-4535
  6. Rousseau, M. E., et al., Study of Protein Conformation and Orientation in Silkworm and Spider Silk Fibers Using Raman Microspectroscopy, Biomacromolecules, 5 (2004), 6, pp. 2247-2257
  7. Grubb, D. T., Jelinski, L.W., Fiber Morphology of Spider Silk: the Effects of Tensile Deformation, Macromolecules, 30 (1997), 10, pp. 2860-2867
  8. Du, N., et al., Structural Origin of the Strain-Hardening of Spider Silk, Advanced Functional Materials, 21 (2011), 4, pp. 772-778
  9. Jin, H. J., et al., Water-Stable Silk Films with Reduced Beta-Sheet Content, Advanced Functional Materials, 15 (2005), 8, pp. 1241-1247
  10. Keten, S., et al., Nanoconfinement Controls Stiffness, Strength and Mechanical Toughness of Beta- -Sheet Crystals in Silk, Nature Materials, 9 (2010), 4, pp. 359-367
  11. MacKerell, A. D., et al., All-Atom Empirical Potential for Molecular Modeling and Dynamics Studies of Proteins, Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 102 (1998), 18, pp. 3586-3616
Volume 18, Issue 5, Pages1459 -1461