Applied Physics A

, Volume 82, Issue 2, pp 223–233 | Cite as

Role of pH and charge on silk protein assembly in insects and spiders

  • C. Wong Po Foo
  • E. Bini
  • J. Hensman
  • D.P. Knight
  • R.V. Lewis
  • D.L. Kaplan
Article
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

Silk fibers possess impressive mechanical properties, dependant, in part, on the crystalline β-sheets silk II conformation. The transition to silk II from soluble silk I-like conformation in silk glands, is thought to originate in the spinning ducts immediately before the silk is drawn down into a fiber. However the assembly process of these silk molecules into fibers, whether in silkworms or spiders, is not well understood. Extensional flow, protein concentration, pH and metal ion concentrations are thought to be most important in in vivo silk processing and in affecting structural conformations. We look at how parameters such as pH, [Ca2+], [K+], and [Cu2+], and water content, interact with the domain structure of silk proteins towards the successful storage and processing of these concentrated hydrophobic silk proteins. Our recent domain mapping studies of all known silk proteins, and 2D Raman spectroscopy, NMR, and DLS studies performed on sections of silkworm gland, suggest that low pH and gradual water removal promote intermolecular over intramolecular hydrogen bonding. This discussion helps to provide the necessary ground rules towards the design of silk protein analogues with specific hydrophobicity and charge profiles to optimize expression, solubility and assembly with implications in structural biology and material science.

Keywords

Silk Gland Silk Protein Spider Silk Posterior Division Anterior Division 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. 1.
    Iizuka E (1985) Appl. Polym. Symp. 41:163Google Scholar
  2. 2.
    Cunniff PM, Fossey SA, Auerbach MA, Song JW (1994) ACS Sym. Ser. 544:234Google Scholar
  3. 3.
    J.M. Gosline, P.A. Guerette, C.S. Ortlepp, K.N. Savage, J. Exp. Biol. 202 Pt 23, 3295 (1999)Google Scholar
  4. 4.
    Altman GH, Diaz F, Jakuba C, Calabro T, Horan RL, Chen J, Lu H, Richmond J, Kaplan DL (2003) Biomaterials 24:401CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  5. 5.
    Hinman MB, Jones JA, Lewis RV (2000) Trends Biotechnol. 18:374CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  6. 6.
    Madsen B, Shao ZZ, Vollrath F (1999) Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 24:301CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  7. 7.
    Vollrath F, Knight DP (2001) Nature 410:541CrossRefPubMedADSGoogle Scholar
  8. 8.
    Prince JT, McGrath KP, DiGirolamo CM, Kaplan DL (1995) Biochemistry 34:10879CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  9. 9.
    Fahnestock SR, Irwin SL (1997) Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 47:23CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  10. 10.
    Arcidiacono S, Mello C, Kaplan D, Cheley S, Bayley H (1998) Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 49:31CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  11. 11.
    Pandey A (2001) Trends Genet. 17:442Google Scholar
  12. 12.
    Scheller J, Guhrs KH, Grosse F, Conrad U (2001) Nat. Biotechnol. 19:573CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  13. 13.
    Lazaris A, Arcidiacono S, Huang Y, Zhou JF, Duguay F, Chretien N, Welsh EA, Soares JW, Karatzas CN (2002) Science 295:472CrossRefPubMedADSGoogle Scholar
  14. 14.
    Foo CWP, Kaplan DL (2002) Adv. Drug Deliver. Rev. 54:1131CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. 15.
    Winkler S, Kaplan DL (2000) J. Biotechnol. 74:85PubMedGoogle Scholar
  16. 16.
    Bini E, Knight DP, Kaplan DL (2004) J. Mol. Biol. 335:27CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  17. 17.
    Magoshi J, Magoshi Y, Becker MA, Nakamura S (1996) Abstr. Pap. Am. Chem. Soc. 212:53Google Scholar
  18. 18.
    Zhou CZ, Confalonieri F, Medina N, Zivanovic Y, Esnault C, Yang T, Jacquet M, Janin J, Duguet M, Perasso R, Li ZG (2000) Nucleic Acids Res. 28:2413CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  19. 19.
    Zhou L, Chen X, Shao Z, Zhou P, Knight DP, Vollrath F (2003) FEBS Lett. 554:337CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  20. 20.
    Knight DP, Vollrath F (2001) Naturwissenschaften 88:179CrossRefPubMedADSGoogle Scholar
  21. 21.
    Gill SC, von Hippel PH (1989) Anal. Biochem. 182:319CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  22. 22.
    Kerkam K, Viney C, Kaplan D, Lombardi S (1991) Nature 349:596CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  23. 23.
    Vollrath F, Knight DP (1999) Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 24:243CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  24. 24.
    Pouchkina NN, Stanchev BS, McQueen-Mason SJ (2003) Insect Biochem. Molec. 33:229CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. 25.
    Chen X, Knight DP, Shao ZZ, Vollrath F (2001) Polymer 42:9969CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. 26.
    Chen X, Huang YF, Shao ZZ, Huang Y, Zhou P, Knight DP, Vollrath F (2004) Chin. J. Chem. 25:1160Google Scholar
  27. 27.
    Dicko C, Vollrath F, Kenney J (2004) Biomacromolecules 5:704CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  28. 28.
    Knight DP, Vollrath F (1999) Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B 266:519CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. 29.
    Hijirida DH, Do KG, Michal C, Wong S, Zax D, Jelinski LW (1996) Biophys. J. 71:3442PubMedGoogle Scholar
  30. 30.
    Knight DP, Vollrath F (2001) Biomacromolecules 2:323CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  31. 31.
    Chen X, Knight DP, Vollrath F (2002) Biomacromolecules 3:644CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  32. 32.
    Vollrath F, Knight DP, Hu XW (1998) Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B 265:817CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  33. 33.
    Huemmerich D, Helsen CW, Quedzuweit S, Oschmann J, Rudolph R, Scheibel T (2004) Biochemistry 43:13604PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  34. 34.
    Chen X, Knight DP, Shao Z, Vollrath F (2002) Biochemistry 41:14944CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  35. 35.
    Loewenthal R, Sancho J, Fersht AR (1992) J. Mol. Biol. 224:759CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  36. 36.
    Sancho J, Serrano L, Fersht AR (1992) Biochemistry 31:2253CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  37. 37.
    Zou J, Sugimoto N (2000) J. Chem. Soc. Perk. T. 2:2135CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. 38.
    Behar V, Nakamoto C, Greenberg Z, Bisello A, Suva LJ, Rosenblatt M, Chorev M (1996) Endocrinology 137:4217CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  39. 39.
    Krizek BA, Amann BT, Kilfoil VJ, Merkle DL, Berg JM (1991) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 113:4518CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. 40.
    Miura T, Hori-i A, Mototani H, Takeuchi H (1999) Biochemistry 38:11560CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  41. 41.
    Blasie CA, Berg JM (2002) Biochemistry 41:15068CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  42. 42.
    Terry AE, Knight DP, Porter D, Vollrath F (2004) Biomacromolecules 5:768CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  43. 43.
    Wilson D, Valluzzi R, Kaplan D (2000) Biophys. J. 78:2690PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  44. 44.
    Valluzzi R, Winkler S, Wilson D, Kaplan DL (2002) Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 357:165CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  45. 45.
    Kaplan D, Adams WW, Farmer B, Viney C (1994) ACS Sym. Ser. 544:2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  46. 46.
    Dicko C, Knight D, Kenney JM, Vollrath F (2004) Biomacromolecules 5:758CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  47. 47.
    Mello CM, Senecal K, Yeung B, Vouros P, Kaplan D (1994) ACS Sym. Ser. 544:67Google Scholar
  48. 48.
    Knight DP, Vollrath F (2002) Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 357:155CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  49. 49.
    Peng S, Ding F, Urbanc B, Buldyrev SV, Cruz L, Stanley HE, Dokholyan NV (2004) Phys. Rev. E 69:041908CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  50. 50.
    Oroudjev EM, Hansma HG (2002) Biophys. J. 82:41aGoogle Scholar
  51. 51.
    Ochi A, Hossain KS, Magoshi J, Nemoto N (2002) Biomacromolecules 3:1187CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  52. 52.
    Inoue SI, Magoshi J, Tanaka T, Magoshi Y, Becker M (2000) J. Polym. Sci. B Polym. Phys. 38:1436CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  53. 53.
    Inoue S, Kobayashi M, Tanaka T, Tsuda H, Magoshi Y, Magoshi J (2001) Abstr. Pap. Am. Chem. Soc. 221:U398Google Scholar
  54. 54.
    Inoue S, Tsuda H, Tanaka T, Kobayashi M, Magoshi Y, Magoshi J (2003) Nano Lett. 3:1329CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  55. 55.
    Jin HJ, Kaplan DL (2003) Nature 424:1057CrossRefPubMedADSGoogle Scholar
  56. 56.
    Tanaka K, Kajiyama N, Ishikura K, Waga S, Kikuchi A, Ohtomo K, Takagi T, Mizuno S (1999) Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 1432:92PubMedGoogle Scholar
  57. 57.
    Tanaka K, Inoue S, Mizuno S (1999) Insect Biochem. Molec. 29:269CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  58. 58.
    Inoue S, Tanaka K, Arisaka F, Kimura S, Ohtomo K, Mizuno S (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275:40517CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  59. 59.
    Yang AS, Honig B (1994) J. Mol. Biol. 237:602CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  60. 60.
    Barrick D, Hughson FM, Baldwin RL (1994) J. Mol. Biol. 237:588CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  61. 61.
    Hossain KS, Ochi A, Ooyama E, Magoshi J, Nemoto N (2003) Biomacromolecules 4:350CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  62. 62.
    Kim UJ, Park JY, Li CM, Jin HJ, Valluzzi R, Kaplan DL (2004) Biomacromolecules 5:786CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  63. 63.
    Rossle M, Panine P, Urban VS, Riekel C (2004) Biopolymers 74:316CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  64. 64.
    Oroudjev E, Soares J, Arcdiacono S, Thompson JB, Fossey SA, Hansma HG (2002) Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. Am. 99:9606CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  65. 65.
    Urry DW, Gowda DC, Peng S, Parker TM, Jing N, Harris RD (1994) Biopolymers 34:889CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  66. 66.
    Urry DW, Peng SQ, Hayes LC, McPherson D, Xu J, Woods TC, Gowda DC, Pattanaik A (1998) Biotechnol. Bioeng. 58:175CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  67. 67.
    Zou J, Sugimoto N (2000) J. Chem. Soc. Perkin Trans. 2:2135Google Scholar
  68. 68.
    Datta A, Ghosh AK, Kundu SC (2001) Comp. Biochem. Phys. B 129:197CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  69. 69.
    Sezutsu H, Yukuhiro K (2000) J. Mol. Evol. 51:329PubMedGoogle Scholar
  70. 70.
    Zurovec M, Sehnal F (2002) J. Biol. Chem. 277:22639CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  71. 71.
    Kusuda J, Tazima Y, Onimaru K, Ninaki O, Suzuki Y (1986) Mol. Gen. Genet. 203:359CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  72. 72.
    Zurovec M, Vaskova M, Kodrik D, Sehnal F, Kumaran AK (1995) Mol. Gen. Genet. 247:1CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  73. 73.
    Kikuchi Y, Mori K, Suzuki S, Yamaguchi K, Mizuno S (1992) Gene 110:151CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  74. 74.
    Xu M, Lewis RV (1990) Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. Am. 87:7120PubMedCrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  75. 75.
    Beckwitt R, Arcidiacono S (1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269:6661PubMedGoogle Scholar
  76. 76.
    Gatesy J, Hayashi C, Motriuk D, Woods J, Lewis R (2001) Science 291:2603CrossRefPubMedADSGoogle Scholar
  77. 77.
    Guerette PA, Ginzinger DG, Weber BH, Gosline JM (1996) Science 272:112CrossRefADSGoogle Scholar
  78. 78.
    Ren H-L, Liu Z-S, Pan F-G, Zhao J, Li Y-S (2002) Shengwu Jishu 12:1Google Scholar
  79. 79.
    Colgin MA, Lewis RV (1998) Protein Sci. 7:667PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  80. 80.
    Hayashi CY, Lewis RV (2000) Science 287:1477CrossRefPubMedADSGoogle Scholar
  81. 81.
    Hayashi CY, Lewis RV (1998) J. Mol. Biol. 275:773CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 2005

Authors and Affiliations

  • C. Wong Po Foo
    • 1
    • 2
  • E. Bini
    • 3
  • J. Hensman
    • 4
  • D.P. Knight
    • 4
  • R.V. Lewis
    • 5
  • D.L. Kaplan
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Biomedical Engineering & Bioengineering CenterTufts UniversityMedfordUSA
  2. 2.Department of ChemistryTufts UniversityMedfordUSA
  3. 3.Department of Biochemistry and MicrobiologyRutgers UniversityNew BrunswickUSA
  4. 4.Department of ZoologyOxford UniversityOxfordUK
  5. 5.Department of Molecular BiologyUniversity of WyomingLaramieUSA

Personalised recommendations