Nature Communications (May 2018)
Conformation and dynamics of soluble repetitive domain elucidates the initial β-sheet formation of spider silk
Abstract
β-sheet structure underlies the mechanical properties of spider silk but the mechanism to form β-sheet from soluble silk protein during transition into insoluble fibers has not been elucidated. Here the authors unravel the mechanism of β-sheet formation using NMR and circular dichroism spectroscopy.