Stealing the Secrets of Spider Silk

Spiders put their silk to use in all sorts of ways. Now, Jeff Yarger, a biochemist at Arizona State University in Tempe, and his colleagues are finding ways that spider silk can benefit humans.

“We’re actually collecting natural silk from spiders that are prey-wrapping,” said Yarger.

The silk that spiders use to wrap and immobilize their prey is different from the silk they use to build webs or dangle from a ceiling. It’s also the least studied. Now scientists are harvesting this silk to find out what makes it different.

“We also want to study the natural silk so we really have a good sense for what the natural silk properties and structure are,” explained Yarger.

To collect the silk, a spider is tricked into thinking that a vibrating metal tuning fork is an insect. Once the spider wraps the fork, the silk is studied with a high-powered X-ray imaging system; scientists have learned that it’s the toughest of all spider silk.

Yarger said, “We’d like to understand on a molecular level why it’s so tough.”

Tough silk has the potential for many different uses.

“If we can make a lot of this in the same structures that natural spiders do, I can imagine it being an excellent material for bone grafting, for suture type material,” Yarger said.

Scientists hope to create their own version soon to test as a material for brain sutures, or stitches.