A novel marine silk.

Journal article

The discovery of a novel silk production system in a marine amphipod provides insights into the wider potential of natural silks. The tube-building corophioid amphipod Crassicorophium bonellii produces from its legs fibrous, adhesive underwater threads that combine barnacle cement biology with aspects of spider silk thread extrusion spinning. We characterised the filamentous silk as a mixture of mucopolysaccharides and protein deriving from glands representing two distinct types. The carbohyd...

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Authors: Kronenberger, K; Dicko, C; Vollrath, F

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Die Naturwissenschaften
• Volume: 99
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 3-10
• Publication date: 2012-01-01
• DOI: 10.1007/s00114-011-0853-5
• EISSN: 1432-1904
• ISSN: 0028-1042
• Language: English
• Keywords: Animals; Arthropod Proteins; Amino Acids; Phylogeny; Silk; Amphipoda; Aquatic Organisms