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Mimicking spider glands to make strong silk
A device that recreates the conditions in spiders’ silk-spinning apparatus has produced 1,000 metres of material that is tougher than other spun artificial spider silks.
Researchers used the bacterium Escherichia coli to make a water-soluble protein, spidroin, containing domains from the silks of two species of spider, Euprosthenops australis and Araneus ventricosus.
The team then pumped…