12 Characterization Techniques

How is Spider Silk Produced?

A depiction of 7 different silk glands in the spider's thorax, each producing a different type of silk
Figure 2: The 7 different silk glands and each of their produced types of silk. Obtained from https://kidspacemuseum.org/for-families-at-home/ask-kidspace-spiders/

The production of spider silk is much more complex than you may initially realize. Spiders do not produce one type of silk; instead, they have several different glands that each create a unique silk with a specialized purpose. The strongest and most useful type of silk comes from the Major Ampullate gland. This gland can be harvested to produce spider silk.

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Polymeric Biomaterials: As Explored through TED Talks Copyright © by Wendy Krause is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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