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Unraveling the Design Principles of Black Widow’s Gumfoot Glue

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Biological Adhesives

Abstract

Prey capture adhesives produced by web-building spiders have intrigued humans for many years and provide important insights to develop adhesives that work in humid environments. These humidity-responsive glues are laid down by spiders in various types of webs, primarily orb webs and cobwebs. The formation and function of viscid glue in the capture spirals of orb webs is well-studied compared to the vertically aligned gumfoot glue strands in cobwebs. While the glue droplets in cobwebs contain some peptides, they act as viscoelastic liquids, rather than viscoelastic solids, and the cause of glue stickiness is poorly understood. However, the recent discovery of glycoproteins and hygroscopic salts in the gumfoot adhesives brings a new perspective to explain the mechanism of adhesion of these microscopic droplets. In this chapter, we summarize the current state of our understanding of the chemical composition, morphology, and mechanism of adhesion of gumfoot glue threads. Additionally, we present molecular evidence that both salts and glycoproteins are important for strong adhesion in a humid environment and show how understanding the mechanism of cobweb spider adhesives will help in designing materials that are active and functional in high humidity.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express gratitude to the National Science Foundation (NSF) for funding the NMR studies on gumfoot silk, Bill Hsuing for the help in the collection of major ampullate silk from silk glands of Black Widow, Sarah Han and Dr. Matjaz Gregoric for pictures in Fig.13.1 and Fig.13.3 respectively and Dr. Wei Chen for the assistance in solid-state NMR experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Polymer Science, University of Akron, Akron, OH, 44325-3909, USA

    Dharamdeep Jain, Toshikazu Miyoshi & Ali Dhinojwala

  2. Department of Biology, Integrated Biosciences Program, University of Akron, Akron, OH, 44325-3908, USA

    Todd A. Blackledge

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  1. Dharamdeep Jain
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  2. Todd A. Blackledge
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  3. Toshikazu Miyoshi
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  4. Ali Dhinojwala
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Correspondence to Ali Dhinojwala .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York, USA

    Andrew M. Smith

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Jain, D., Blackledge, T.A., Miyoshi, T., Dhinojwala, A. (2016). Unraveling the Design Principles of Black Widow’s Gumfoot Glue. In: Smith, A. (eds) Biological Adhesives. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46082-6_13

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