Abstract
Most spiders use major ampullate silk (MAS) to perform many functions across their lifetimes, including prey capture, vibratory signal detection, and safety/dragline. To accommodate their various needs, adult spiders can use inducible variability to tailor MAS with specific mechanical properties. However, it is currently unknown whether this inducible mechanical variability develops gradually or remains consistent across spider size. Supercontraction —a process by which “native-state” silk fibers axially shrink when exposed to water or high humidity—can be used to reveal the extent of inducible variability in MAS. Supercontraction removes some processing effects that occur during the spinning of the solid fiber from its liquid precursor by allowing a native-state MAS fiber to return to a low energy “ground-state”. Here, we examined the relative extent of inducible variability of MAS across spider size by assessing supercontraction properties and the difference between ground- and native-state MAS tensile properties using silk from the huntsman spider Heteropoda venatoria (Sparassidae). Stiffness of forcibly pulled native-state silk increased by 200% with spider size. After exposure to 90% RH and subsequent supercontraction, axial shrinkage of native-state silk fibers increased by 15% in larger spiders. Supercontracted, ground-state fibers demonstrated a 200% increase in extensibility across spider size. Our results indicate a gradual increase in inducible variability of MAS mechanical properties across spider size potentially caused by shifts in internal processing or chemical composition. These findings imply both development of inducible variability and changes in use of MAS as a safety line or aiding jumps across a spider’s lifetime.
References
Barton K (2020) Package ‘MuMIn’. Model selection and model averaging base on information criteria. R package version 1.43.17. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria
Bates D, Maechler M, Bolker B, Walker S (2015) Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. J Stat Softw 67:1–48
Blackledge TA, Pérez-Rigueiro J, Plaza GR, Perea B, Navarro A, Guinea GV, Elices M (2012) Sequential origin in the high performance properties of orb spider dragline silk. Sci Rep 2:1–5
Blamires SJ, Blackledge TA, Tso IM (2017) Physicochemical property variation in spider silk: ecology, evolution, and synthetic production. Ann Review Entomol 62:443–460
Boutry C, Blackledge TA (2010) Evolution of supercontraction in spider silk: structure–function relationship from tarantulas to orb-weavers. J Exp Biol 213:3505–3514
Boutry C, Řezáč M, Blackledge TA (2011) Plasticity in major ampullate silk production in relation to spider phylogeny and ecology. PLoS One 6
Elices M, Plaza GR, Pérez-Rigueiro J, Guinea GV (2011) The hidden link between supercontraction and mechanical behavior of spider silks. J Mech Behav Biomed Mater 4:658–669
Foelix R (2011) Biology of spiders. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Grubb DT, Ji G (1999) Molecular chain orientation in supercontracted and re-extended spider silk. Int J Biol Macromol 24:203–210
Guinea GV, Elices M, Pérez-Rigueiro J, Plaza GR (2005) Stretching of supercontracted fibers: a link between spinning and the variability of spider silk. J Exp Biol 208:25–30
Higgins LE (1992) Developmental plasticity and fecundity in the orb-weaving spider Nephila clavipes. J Arachnol 1:94–106
Liu Y, Shao Z, Vollrath F (2005) Relationships between supercontraction and mechanical properties of spider silk. Nat Mater 4:901–905
Long JA (2019) Interactions: comprehensive, user-friendly toolkit for probing interactions. R package version 1.1.0. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria
Madsen B, Shao ZZ, Vollrath F (1999) Variability in the mechanical properties of spider silks on three levels: interspecific, intraspecific and intraindividual. Int J Biol Macromol 24:301–306
Madurga R, Blackledge TA, Perea B, Plaza GR, Riekel C, Burghammer M, Elices M, Guinea G, Pérez-Rigueiro J (2015) Persistence and variation in microstructural design during the evolution of spider silk. Sci Rep 5:1–11
Ortlepp C, Gosline JM (2008) The scaling of safety factor in spider draglines. J Exp Biol 211:2832–2840
Osaki S (1996) Spider silk as mechanical lifeline. Nature 384:419
Osaki S (1999) Is the mechanical strength of spider’s drag-lines reasonable as lifeline? Int J Biol Macromol 24:283–287
Perez-Rigueiro J, Elices M, Guinea GV (2003) Controlled supercontraction tailors the tensile behaviour of spider silk. Polymer 44:3733–3736
Piorkowski D, Blamires SJ, Doran NE, Liao CP, Wu CL, Tso IM (2018a) Ontogenetic shift toward stronger, tougher silk of a web-building, cave-dwelling spider. J Zool 304:81–89
Piorkowski D, Blackledge TA, Liao CP, Doran NE, Wu CL, Blamires SJ, Tso IM (2018b) Humidity-dependent mechanical and adhesive properties of Arachnocampa tasmaniensis capture threads. J Zool 305:256–266
R Core Team (2020) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna
Ross J, Richman DB, Mansour F, Trambarulo A, Whitcom WH (1982) The life cycle of Heteropoda venatoria (Linnaeus)(Araneae: Heteropodidae). Psyche 89:297–305
Sensenig AT, Agnarsson I, Blackledge TA (2011) Adult spiders use tougher silk: ontogenetic changes in web architecture and silk biomechanics in the orb-weaver spider. J Zool 285:28–38
Wheeler WC, Coddington JA, Crowley LM, Dimitrov D, Goloboff PA, Griswold CE, Hormiga G, Prendini L, Ramirez MJ, Sierwald P, Almeida-Silva L (2017) The spider tree of life: phylogeny of Araneae based on target-gene analysis from an extensive taxon sampling. Cladistics 33:574–616
Work RW (1977) Dimensions, birefringences, and force-elongation behavior of major and minor ampullate silk fibers from orb-web-spinning spiders—the effects of wetting on these properties. Text Res J 47:650–662
Zhang S, Chen HL, Chen KY, Huang JJ, Chang CC, Piorkowski D, Liao CP, Tso IM (2015) A nocturnal cursorial predator attracts flying prey with a visual lure. Anim Behav 102:119–125
Acknowledgments
We thank Ming-Yu Lee for collection of H. venatoria spiders.
Funding
This research was funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, grants (MOST 108–2811-B-029–500) to DP, (MOST 103–2621-B-029–002-MY3; MOST 106–2311-B-029–003-MY3) to IMT and the National Science Foundation to TAB.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Communicated by: Matjaž Gregorič
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
ESM 1
(DOCX 215 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Piorkowski, D., Liao, CP., Blackledge, T.A. et al. Size-related increase in inducible mechanical variability of major ampullate silk in a huntsman spider (Araneae: Sparassidae). Sci Nat 108, 22 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-021-01724-2
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-021-01724-2