Secondary Structure Adopted by the Gly-Gly-X Repetitive Regions of Dragline Spider Silk

Abstract

Solid-state NMR and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are presented to help elucidate the molecular secondary structure of poly(Gly-Gly-X), which is one of the most common structural repetitive motifs found in orb-weaving dragline spider silk proteins. The combination of NMR and computational experiments provides insight into the molecular secondary structure of poly(Gly-Gly-X) segments and provides further support that these regions are disordered and primarily non-β-sheet. Furthermore, the combination of NMR and MD simulations illustrate the possibility for several secondary structural elements in the poly(Gly-Gly-X) regions of dragline silks, including β-turns, 310-helicies, and coil structures with a negligible population of α-helix observed.

Keywords

• spider silk
• NMR
• solid-state NMR
• molecular dynamics
• secondary structure