Adaptations of Silk
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The incredible characteristics of the Golden Orb Weaving
Spider’s silk make it one of the most studied and sought-after product in the
world. The chemical structure of the
silk gives it a surprising strength, almost 5 times stronger than steel. The silk is also more elastic than
nylon. During the day, the silk shines
golden in the sunlight, attracting insects and bees. At night, the silk blends into the background
foliage and acts as a camouflage. The
Golden Orb Spider also has the ability to change the pigment of its silk in
relation to the light levels of its environment and can change the color based
on the range of spectral reflectance of insect vision.
- Silk is a natural polypeptide, polymeric protein occurs as fibroin
- Fibroin consists of 42% glycine and 25% alanine as the major amino acids, but also includes glutamine, serine, leucine, valine, proline, tyrosine, and arginine