Why is the web so strong? What is stronger - spider web or steel? Who has the strongest web?

Surely each of you paid attention to the sophisticated, delicate, silky “handkerchiefs” that spiders hang on trees and grass sunny summer. When silvery dewdrops glisten on openwork spider yarn - the sight, you see, is incredibly beautiful and bewitching. But several questions arise: “where is the web formed and how is it used by the spider”, “where does it come from and what does it consist of”. Today we will try to figure out why this animal decorates everything around with its “embroidery.”

Stopped for an hour

Many scientists devoted not only entire treatises and hours, but also years of their lives to spiders and their webs. As Andre Tilkin, a famous philosopher from France, said, weaving a web is an amazing performance that you can watch for hours and hours. He wrote more than five hundred pages of a treatise on the web.

The German scientist G. Peters argued that, watching spiders for hours, you don’t even notice how time flies. Even before Tilkin, he told the world about who these people were amazing creatures, like a spider weaves its web, for which it needs it.

Surely, more than once, when you saw a little spider on a leaf doing its painstaking work, you stopped and watched. But we always don’t have enough time for beautiful little things, we’re always in a hurry, so we can’t stop, linger a little longer. If this was the time, each of us could probably answer the question: “How does a web appear, why does the spider not stick to its web?”

Let's stop for a moment and figure it out. After all, the question is really interesting, and the process is fascinating.

Where does it come from?

Spiders are the oldest creatures, living on earth for more than two hundred million years. Without their web, they, perhaps, would not be so interesting to humanity. So where do spiders’ webs come from and what does it look like?

The web is the contents of special glands that many arthropods have (false scorpions, spiders, spider mites, etc.). The liquid contents can be stretched without tearing. The resulting thin threads harden very quickly in air.

Each spider has several specific glands on its body that are responsible for producing webs. Different glands form various types and density of the web. They are located on the abdomen in the form of very thin ducts and are called “spider warts”. It is from these holes that a liquid secretion is released, which soon turns into a beautiful web.

With the help of its paws, the spider distributes and “hangs” the web where it needs it. The spider's front legs are the longest; they protrude into leading role. And with the help of its hind legs, it grabs drops of liquid and stretches them to the required length.

Wind to the rescue

The breeze also contributes to the correct distribution of the web. If the spider chooses the right place to place itself, for example between trees or in leaves, then the wind helps to carry the threads where they need to be. If you wanted to answer the question for yourself about how a spider weaves a web between trees, then here is the answer. The wind helps him.

When one thread catches on the desired branch, the spider crawls, checks the strength of the base and releases the next one. The second is attached to the middle of the first and so on.

Construction stages

The base of the web is very similar to a snowflake or a point, from the center of which several rays radiate. These central threads-rays are the densest and thickest in their structure. Sometimes the spider makes a warp from several threads at once, as if strengthening its paths in advance.

When the base is ready, the animal proceeds to the construction of “catching spirals.” They are made from a completely different type of web. This liquid is sticky and sticks well. It is from the sticky web that the circles on the base are built.

The spider begins its construction from the outer circle, gradually moving towards the center. He amazingly senses the distance between the circles. Absolutely without having a compass or special ones at hand measuring instruments, the spider accurately distributes the web so that the distance between the circles is exclusively equal.

Why doesn't it stick on its own?

Surely you all know how spiders hunt. How their prey gets caught in a sticky web and dies. And, perhaps, everyone has at least once wondered: “Why doesn’t the spider stick to its web?”

The answer lies in the specific tactics of web construction, which we described just above. The web is made from several types of threads. The base on which the spider moves is made of ordinary, very strong and completely safe thread. But “catching” circles are made, on the contrary, from thread that is sticky and lethal to many insects.

Functions of the web

So, we figured out how the web appears and where it is formed. And now we can also answer how the spider’s web is used. The primary task of the web is, of course, to obtain food. When “food” enters the web, the spider immediately feels the vibration. He approaches the prey, quickly wraps it in a strong “blanket”, opens the edge and takes the food to a place where no one will disturb him from enjoying his meal.

But besides getting food, the web serves the spider for some other purposes. It is used to make a cocoon for eggs and a house for living. The web acts as a kind of hammock on which events take place. mating games and mating. It acts as a parachute, which allows you to quickly escape from dangerous enemies. With its help, spiders can move through trees if necessary.

Stronger than steel

So, we already know how a spider weaves a web and what its features are, how it is formed and how sticky networks are built to obtain food. But the question remains about why the web is so strong.

Despite the fact that all spider designs are varied, they have the same property - increased strength. This is ensured due to the fact that the web contains a protein - keratin. By the way, it is also found in animal claws, wool, and bird feathers. The fibers of the web stretch perfectly and then return to their original form, without tearing.

Scientists say that spider web is much stronger than natural silk. The latter has a tensile strength of 30-42 g/mm 2, but the web has a tensile strength of about 170 g/mm 2. You can feel the difference.

How a spider weaves a web is understandable. That it is durable is also a question that has been resolved. But did you know that despite such strength, the web is several thousand times thinner than human hair? If we compare the breaking performance of cobwebs and other threads, it surpasses not only silk, but also viscose, nylon, and orlon. Even the strongest steel cannot compare with it in strength.

Did you know that the way a spider weaves its web will determine the number of victims that end up in it?

When prey ends up in the web, it not only sticks to the “catching” net, but is also struck electric charge. It is formed from the insects themselves, which accumulate a charge during the flight, and when they get into the web, they give it to the threads and infect themselves.

Knowing how a spider weaves a web and what “strong” qualities it has, why don’t people still make clothes from such threads? It turns out that during the time of Louis XIV, one of the craftsmen tried to sew gloves and socks for the king from spider threads. However, this work turned out to be very difficult, painstaking and lengthy.

IN South America spider webs help not only the manufacturers themselves, but also the local monkeys. Thanks to the strength of the nets, animals move through them deftly and fearlessly.

Representatives of the arachnid order can be found everywhere. These are predators that hunt insects. They catch their prey using a web. This is a flexible and durable fiber to which flies, bees, and mosquitoes stick. How a spider weaves a web is a question often asked when looking at an amazing catching net.

What is a web?

Spiders are one of the oldest inhabitants of the planet, due to their small size and specific appearance they are mistakenly considered insects. In fact, these are representatives of the order of arthropods. The spider's body has eight legs and two sections:

cephalothorax;
abdomen.

Unlike insects, they do not have antennae and a neck separating the head from the chest. The abdomen of an arachnid is a kind of factory for the production of cobwebs. It contains glands that produce a secretion consisting of protein enriched with alanine, which gives strength, and glycine, which is responsible for elasticity. By chemical formula the web is close to the silk of insects. Inside the glands, the secretion is in a liquid state, but when exposed to air it hardens.

Information. Caterpillar silk silkworm and spider webs have a similar composition - 50% is fibroin protein. Scientists have found that spider thread is much stronger than caterpillar secretion. This is due to the peculiarity of fiber formation

Where does a spider's web come from?

On the abdomen of the arthropod there are outgrowths - arachnoid warts. In their upper part, the channels of the arachnoid glands open, forming threads. There are 6 types of glands that produce silk for different purposes (moving, lowering, entangling prey, storing eggs). In one species, all these organs do not occur at the same time; usually an individual has 1-4 pairs of glands.

On the surface of warts there are up to 500 spinning tubes that supply protein secretion. The spider spins its web as follows:

spider warts are pressed against the base (tree, grass, wall, etc.);
Not a large number of the squirrel sticks to the selected place;
the spider moves away, pulling the thread with its hind legs;
for the main work, long and flexible front legs are used, with their help a frame is created from dry threads;
The final stage of making the network is the formation of sticky spirals.

Thanks to the observations of scientists, it became known where the spider’s web comes from. It is produced by movable paired warts on the abdomen.

Interesting fact. The web is very light; the weight of a thread wrapped around the Earth along the equator would be only 450 g.

Spider pulls thread from abdomen

How to build a fishing net

Wind - best helper spider in construction. Having taken out a thin thread from the warts, the arachnid exposes it to an air flow, which carries the frozen silk over a considerable distance. This secret way like a spider weaving a web between trees. The web easily clings to tree branches, using it as a rope, the arachnid moves from place to place.

A certain pattern can be traced in the structure of the web. Its basis is a frame of strong and thick threads arranged in the form of rays diverging from one point. Starting from the outer part, the spider creates circles, gradually moving towards the center. It is amazing that without any equipment it maintains the same distance between each circle. This part of the fibers is sticky and is where insects will get stuck.

Interesting fact. The spider eats its own web. Scientists offer two explanations for this fact - in this way, the loss of protein during the repair of the fishing net is replenished, or the spider simply drinks water hanging on the silk threads.

The complexity of the web pattern depends on the type of arachnid. Lower arthropods build simple networks, while higher ones build complex geometric patterns. It is estimated that it builds a trap of 39 radii and 39 spirals. In addition to smooth radial threads, auxiliary and catcher spirals, there are signal threads. These elements capture and transmit to the predator the vibrations of the caught prey. If a foreign object (a branch, a leaf) comes across, the little owner separates it and throws it away, then restores the net.

Large arboreal arachnids pull traps with a diameter of up to 1 m. Not only insects, but also small birds fall into them.

How long does it take a spider to weave a web?

A predator spends from half an hour to 2-3 hours to create an openwork trap for insects. Its operating time depends on weather conditions and planned network sizes. Some species weave silk threads daily, doing it in the morning or evening, depending on their lifestyle. One of the factors determining how long it takes a spider to weave a web is its type – flat or voluminous. The flat one is the familiar version of radial threads and spirals, and the volumetric one is a trap made from a lump of fibers.

Purpose of the web

Fine nets are not only insect traps. The role of the web in the life of arachnids is much broader.

Catching prey

All spiders are predators, killing their prey with poison. Moreover, some individuals have a fragile constitution and can themselves become victims of insects, for example, wasps. To hunt, they need shelter and a trap. Sticky fibers perform this function. They entangle the prey caught in the net in a cocoon of threads and leave it until the injected enzyme brings it into a liquid state.

Arachnid silk fibers are thinner than human hair, but their specific tensile strength is comparable to steel wire.

Reproduction

During the mating period, males attach their own threads to the female's web. By striking the silk fibers rhythmically, they communicate their intentions to a potential partner. The female receiving courtship descends onto the male’s territory to mate. In some species, the female initiates the search for a partner. She secretes a thread with pheromones, thanks to which the spider finds her.

Home for posterity

Cocoons for eggs are woven from the silky web secretion. Their number, depending on the type of arthropod, is 2-1000 pieces. The females hang the web sacs with eggs in a safe place. The cocoon shell is quite strong; it consists of several layers and is impregnated with liquid secretion.

In their burrow, arachnids weave webs around the walls. This helps create a favorable microclimate and serves as protection from bad weather and natural enemies.

Moving

One of the answers to why a spider weaves a web is that it uses threads as vehicle. To move between trees and bushes, quickly understand and fall, it needs strong fibers. To fly over long distances, spiders climb to elevated heights, release a quickly hardening web, and then with a gust of wind they fly away for several kilometers. Most often, trips are made in warm weather clear days Indian summer.

Why doesn't the spider stick to its web?

To avoid falling into its own trap, the spider makes several dry threads for movement. I know my way around the intricacies of nets perfectly, and he safely approaches the stuck prey. Usually, a safe area remains in the center of the fishing net, where the predator waits for prey.

Scientists' interest in the interaction of arachnids with their hunting traps began more than 100 years ago. Initially, it was suggested that there was a special lubricant on their paws that prevented sticking. No confirmation of the theory was ever found. Filming with a special camera the movement of the spider's legs along fibers from the frozen secretion provided an explanation for the mechanism of contact.

A spider does not stick to its web for three reasons:

many elastic hairs on its legs reduce the area of contact with the sticky spiral;
the tips of the spider's legs are covered with an oily liquid;
movement occurs in a special way.

What is the secret of the structure of the legs that helps arachnids avoid sticking? On each leg of the spider there are two supporting claws with which it clings to the surface, and one flexible claw. As it moves, it presses the threads against the flexible hairs on the foot. When the spider raises its leg, the claw straightens and the hairs push away the web.

Another explanation is the lack of direct contact between the arachnid's leg and the sticky droplets. They fall on the hairs of the foot, and then easily flow back onto the thread. Whatever theories zoologists consider, the fact remains unchanged that spiders do not become prisoners of their own sticky traps.

Other arachnids, such as mites and pseudoscorpions, can also weave webs. But their networks cannot be compared in strength and skillful weaving with the works of real masters - spiders. Modern science is not yet able to reproduce the web using a synthetic method. The technology for making spider silk remains one of the mysteries of nature.

Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences E. Lozovskaya

Science and life // Illustrations

The adhesive substance covering the thread of the catching spiral is evenly distributed throughout the web in the form of bead droplets. The picture shows the place where two fragments of the catcher spiral are attached to the radius.

Science and life // Illustrations

The initial stages of building a catching net by a cross spider.

The logarithmic spiral approximately describes the shape of the auxiliary spiral thread that the spider lays when constructing a wheel-shaped catching net.

The Archimedes spiral describes the shape of the adhesive catch thread.

Zigzag threads are one of the features of the webs of spiders of the genus Argiope.

The crystalline regions of the silk fiber have a folded structure similar to the one shown in the figure. Individual circuits connected hydrogen bonds.

Young cross spiders that have just emerged from their web cocoon.

Spiders of the family Dinopidae spinosa weave a web between their legs and then throw it over their prey.

The cross spider (Araneus diadematus) is known for its ability to weave large, wheel-shaped trapping webs.

Some types of spiders also attach a long “ladder” to the round trap, which significantly increases the efficiency of hunting.

Science and life // Illustrations

This is what the spider tubes from which the threads of spider silk emerge look like under a microscope.

Spiders may not be the most attractive creatures, but their creation, the web, is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Remember how the geometric regularity of the finest threads shimmering in the sun, stretched between the branches of a bush or among tall grass, captivates the eye.

Spiders are one of the oldest inhabitants of our planet, having settled on land more than 200 million years ago. There are about 35 thousand species of spiders in nature. These eight-legged creatures, which live everywhere, are recognizable always and everywhere, despite differences in color and size. But the most important thing is distinctive feature- is the ability to produce spider silk, a natural fiber unsurpassed in strength.

Spiders use webs for a variety of purposes. They make cocoons for eggs from it, build shelters for wintering, use it as a “safety rope” when jumping, weave intricate trapping nets and wrap up caught prey. A female ready for mating produces a web thread marked with pheromones, thanks to which the male, moving along the thread, easily finds a partner. Young spiders of some species fly away from the parental nest on long threads carried by the wind.

Spiders feed mainly on insects. The hunting devices they use to get food are of the most different forms and types. Some spiders simply stretch out several signal threads near their shelter and, as soon as an insect touches the thread, they rush at it from ambush. Others throw a thread with a sticky drop at the end forward, like a kind of lasso. But the pinnacle of the design activity of spiders is still round wheel-shaped nets, located horizontally or vertically.

To build a wheel-shaped catching net, the cross spider, a common inhabitant of our forests and gardens, produces a fairly long, strong thread. A breeze or rising air flow lifts the thread upward, and, if the place for building the web is chosen well, it clings to the nearest branch or other support. The spider crawls along it to secure the end, sometimes laying another thread for strength. Then he releases a freely hanging thread and attaches a third to its middle, so that a Y-shaped structure is obtained - the first three radii out of more than fifty. When the radial threads and frame are ready, the spider returns to the center and begins to lay out a temporary auxiliary spiral - something like "scaffolding". The auxiliary spiral holds the structure together and serves as a path for the spider when constructing a catching spiral. The entire main frame of the net, including the radii, is made of non-adhesive thread, but for the catcher spiral, a double thread coated with an adhesive substance is used.

What's surprising is that these two spirals have different geometric shapes. The temporary spiral has relatively few turns, and the distance between them increases with each turn. This happens because, when laying it, the spider moves at the same angle to the radii. The shape of the resulting broken line is close to the so-called logarithmic spiral.

The sticky trapping spiral is built according to a different principle. The spider starts at the edge and moves towards the center, keeping the same distance between the turns, creating an Archimedes spiral. At the same time, it bites off the threads of the auxiliary spiral.

Spider silk is produced by special glands located in the back of the spider's abdomen. At least seven types of arachnoid glands are known, producing different filaments, but none of them known species All seven types of spiders are not found at once. Usually a spider has from one to four pairs of these glands. Weaving a web is not a quick task, and it takes about half an hour to build a medium-sized trapping net. To switch to the production of a different type of web (for the catching spiral), the spider needs a minute's respite. Spiders often reuse webs by eating leftover webs that have been damaged by rain, wind, or insects. The web is digested in their body with the help of special enzymes.

The structure of spider silk has been perfectly developed over hundreds of millions of years of evolution. This natural material combines two wonderful properties - strength and elasticity. A web made of cobwebs can stop an insect flying at full speed. The thread from which spiders weave the base of their hunting web is thinner than a human hair, and its specific (that is, calculated per unit mass) tensile strength is higher than that of steel. If you compare spider thread with steel wire of the same diameter, they will support approximately the same weight. But spider silk is six times lighter, which means six times stronger.

Like human hair, sheep wool, and silk from silkworm cocoons, spider webs are composed primarily of proteins. In terms of amino acid composition, the spider web proteins - spidroins - are relatively close to fibroins, the proteins that make up the silk produced by silkworm caterpillars. Both contain unusually high amounts of the amino acids alanine (25%) and glycine (about 40%). Areas of protein molecules rich in alanine form crystalline regions densely packed into folds, providing high strength, and those areas where there is more glycine represent a more amorphous material that can stretch well and thereby impart elasticity to the thread.

How is such a thread formed? There is no complete and clear answer to this question yet. The process of web spinning has been studied in most detail using the example of the ampullaid gland of the orb-weaving spider Nephila clavipes. The ampullaid gland, which produces the strongest silk, consists of three main sections: a central sac, a very long curved canal, and a tube with an outlet. From the cells on the inner surface of the sac emerge small spherical droplets containing two types of spidroin protein molecules. This viscous solution flows into the tail of the sac, where other cells secrete another type of protein - glycoproteins. Thanks to glycoproteins, the resulting fiber acquires a liquid crystalline structure. Liquid crystals are remarkable in that, on the one hand, they have a high degree of order, and on the other, they retain fluidity. As the thick mass moves towards the outlet, the long protein molecules are oriented and aligned parallel to each other in the direction of the axis of the forming fiber. In this case, intermolecular hydrogen bonds are formed between them.

Humanity has copied many of nature's design discoveries, but such a complex process as spinning a web has not yet been reproduced. Scientists are now trying to solve this difficult problem using biotechnological techniques. The first step was to isolate the genes responsible for the production of the proteins that make up the web. These genes were introduced into the cells of bacteria and yeast (see "Science and Life" No. 2, 2001). Canadian geneticists have gone even further - they have bred genetically modified goats whose milk contains dissolved spider web proteins. But the problem is not only in obtaining spider silk protein, it is necessary to simulate the natural spinning process. But scientists have yet to learn this lesson from nature.

Anyone can easily brush away cobwebs hanging between the branches of a tree or under the ceiling in the far corner of the room. But few people know that if the web had a diameter of 1 mm, it could withstand a load weighing approximately 200 kg. Steel wire of the same diameter can withstand significantly less: 30–100 kg, depending on the type of steel. Why does the web have such exceptional properties?

Some spiders spin up to seven types of threads, each of which has its own purpose. Threads can be used not only for catching prey, but also for building cocoons and parachuting (by taking off in the wind, spiders can escape from a sudden threat, and young spiders spread to new territories in this way). Each type of web is produced by special glands.

The web used to catch prey consists of several types of threads (Fig. 1): frame, radial, catcher and auxiliary. The greatest interest of scientists is the frame thread: it has both high strength and high elasticity - it is this combination of properties that is unique. Ultimate tensile strength of the spider's frame thread Araneus diadematus is 1.1–2.7. For comparison: the tensile strength of steel is 0.4–1.5 GPa, and that of human hair is 0.25 GPa. At the same time, the frame thread can stretch by 30–35%, and most metals can withstand deformation of no more than 10–20%.

Let's imagine a flying insect that hits a stretched web. In this case, the thread of the web must stretch so that the kinetic energy of the flying insect is converted into heat. If the web stored the received energy in the form of elastic deformation energy, then the insect would bounce off the web like from a trampoline. An important property of the web is that it releases a very large amount of heat during rapid stretching and subsequent contraction: the energy released per unit volume is more than 150 MJ/m 3 (steel releases 6 MJ/m 3). This allows the web to effectively dissipate the impact energy and not stretch too much when a victim is caught in it. Spider webs or polymers with similar properties could be ideal materials for lightweight body armor.

IN folk medicine There is such a recipe: to stop the bleeding, you can apply a cobweb to a wound or abrasion, carefully clearing it of insects and small twigs stuck in it. It turns out that spider webs have a hemostatic effect and accelerate the healing of damaged skin. Surgeons and transplantologists could use it as a material for suturing, strengthening implants, and even as a blank for artificial organs. With the help of the web you can significantly improve mechanical properties many materials that are currently used in medicine.

So, spider web is an unusual and very promising material. What molecular mechanisms are responsible for its exceptional properties?

We are accustomed to the fact that molecules are extremely small objects. However, this is not always the case: polymers are widespread around us, which have long molecules consisting of identical or similar units. Everyone knows that genetic information living organism is written in long DNA molecules. Everything was held in their hands plastic bags, consisting of long intertwined polyethylene molecules. Polymer molecules can reach enormous sizes.

For example, the mass of one human DNA molecule is about 1.9·10 12 amu. (however, this is approximately one hundred billion times more than the mass of a water molecule), the length of each molecule is several centimeters, and the total length of all human DNA molecules reaches 10 11 km.

The most important class of natural polymers are proteins; they consist of units called amino acids. Different proteins perform extremely different functions in living organisms: they control chemical reactions, are used as building material, for protection, etc.

The scaffolding thread of the web consists of two proteins, which are called spidroins 1 and 2 (from English spider- spider). Spidroins are long molecules with masses ranging from 120,000 to 720,000 amu. The amino acid sequences of spidroins may differ from spider to spider, but all spidroins have common features. If you mentally stretch out a long spidroin molecule in a straight line and look at the sequence of amino acids, it turns out that it consists of repeating sections that are similar to each other (Fig. 2). Two types of regions alternate in the molecule: relatively hydrophilic (those that are energetically favorable to contact with water molecules) and relatively hydrophobic (those that avoid contact with water). At the ends of each molecule there are two non-repetitive hydrophilic regions, and the hydrophobic regions consist of many repeats of an amino acid called alanine.

A long molecule (eg, protein, DNA, synthetic polymer) can be thought of as a crumpled, tangled rope. Stretching it is not difficult, because the loops inside the molecule can straighten out, requiring relatively little effort. Some polymers (such as rubber) can stretch up to 500% of their original length. So the ability of spider webs (a material made up of long molecules) to deform more than metals is not surprising.

Where does the strength of the web come from?

To understand this, it is important to follow the process of thread formation. Inside the spider gland, spidroins accumulate in the form concentrated solution. When the filament is formed, this solution leaves the gland through a narrow channel, this helps to stretch the molecules and orient them along the direction of the stretch, and the corresponding chemical changes cause the molecules to stick together. Fragments of molecules consisting of alanines join together and form an ordered structure, similar to a crystal (Fig. 3). Inside such a structure, the fragments are laid parallel to each other and linked to each other by hydrogen bonds. It is these areas, interlocked with each other, that provide the strength of the fiber. The typical size of such densely packed regions of molecules is several nanometers. The hydrophilic areas located around them turn out to be randomly coiled, similar to crumpled ropes; they can straighten out and thereby ensure the stretching of the web.

Many composite materials, such as reinforced plastics, are constructed on the same principle as the scaffolding thread: in a relatively soft and flexible matrix, which allows deformation, there are small hard areas that make the material strong. Although materials scientists have been working with similar systems for a long time, man-made composites are only beginning to approach spider webs in their properties.

Interestingly, when the web gets wet, it contracts greatly (this phenomenon is called supercontraction). This occurs because water molecules penetrate the fiber and make the disordered hydrophilic regions more mobile. If the web has stretched and sagged due to insects, then on a humid or rainy day it contracts and at the same time restores its shape.

Note also interesting feature thread formation. The spider pulls out its web under the influence own weight, but the resulting web (thread diameter approximately 1–10 μm) can usually support a mass six times the mass of the spider itself. If you increase the weight of the spider by rotating it in a centrifuge, it begins to secrete a thicker and more durable, but less rigid web.

When it comes to using spider webs, the question arises of how to obtain it in industrial quantities. There are installations in the world for “milking” spiders, which pull out threads and wind them on special reels. However, this method is ineffective: to accumulate 500 g of web, 27 thousand medium-sized spiders are needed. And here bioengineering comes to the aid of researchers. Modern technologies make it possible to introduce genes encoding spider web proteins into various living organisms, such as bacteria or yeast. These genetically modified organisms become sources of artificial webs. Proteins obtained by methods genetic engineering, are called recombinant. Note that usually recombinant spidroins are much smaller than natural ones, but the structure of the molecule (alternating hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions) remains unchanged.

There is confidence that the artificial web will not be inferior in its properties to the natural one and will find its practical use both durable and environmentally friendly pure material. In Russia, several scientific groups from various institutes are jointly studying the properties of the web. The production of recombinant spider web is carried out at the State Research Institute of Genetics and Selection of Industrial Microorganisms, physical and Chemical properties proteins are studied at the Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Biology, Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov, products from spider web proteins are formed at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, their medical applications study at the Institute of Transplantology and Artificial Organs.

Silk, which forms the radial threads of the web, consists of two proteins that determine its strength and elasticity. Each protein contains three regions with different properties. The first forms an amorphous (non-crystalline), stretchable matrix that gives silk its elasticity. When an insect gets caught in a web, the matrix stretches, absorbing kinetic energy collision with an insect. Silk is given its rigidity by two types of crystalline regions embedded in the amorphous regions of each protein. Both of these regions have a close-packed structure and are not stretchable, with one of them having a rigid structure. It is believed that the less rigid crystalline regions anchor the rigid crystalline structures to the amorphous matrix.
The thickness of the web thread is only 0,1 diameter of a human hair, but several times stronger than steel wire of the same weight. In the movie Spider-Man, the strength of the web is greatly underestimated.
The explanation comes from biologist William K. Purves of Harvey Mudd College.

The abdomen of the spider is enlarged 12 times. Factory for the production of webs.

Protein emerges from the moving tubes, which, once in the air, hardens, forming a high-strength thread.

In the picture on the left is Kevlar, and on the right is a nanotube - a carbon thread. Tests show more than three times greater strength. And this is just the beginning.