Figures
Mechanism of spider silk formation.
A major ampullate spider silk gland from the spider Nephila clavipes. The conditions determined along the gland, a drop in pH from 7.6 to <5.7 and increased CO2 pressure, cause the synchronous molecular events of a lock and trigger mechanism that govern the silk fiber formation. The broad pH gradient is generated by carbonic anhydrase that is present in a distinct part of the gland. See Andersson et al.
Image Credit: Marlene Andersson
Citation: (2014) PLoS Biology Issue Image | Vol. 12(8) August 2014. PLoS Biol 12(8): ev12.i08. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.pbio.v12.i08
Published: August 26, 2014
Copyright: © 2014 Andersson et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
A major ampullate spider silk gland from the spider Nephila clavipes. The conditions determined along the gland, a drop in pH from 7.6 to <5.7 and increased CO2 pressure, cause the synchronous molecular events of a lock and trigger mechanism that govern the silk fiber formation. The broad pH gradient is generated by carbonic anhydrase that is present in a distinct part of the gland. See Andersson et al.
Image Credit: Marlene Andersson