Schaefer, C., Laity, P.R., Holland, C. orcid.org/0000-0003-0913-2221 et al. (1 more author) (2021) Stretching of Bombyx mori silk protein in flow. Molecules, 26 (6). 1663. ISSN 1420-3049
Abstract
The flow-induced self-assembly of entangled Bombyx mori silk proteins is hypothesised to be aided by the ‘registration’ of aligned protein chains using intermolecularly interacting ‘sticky’ patches. This suggests that upon chain alignment, a hierarchical network forms that collectively stretches and induces nucleation in a precisely controlled way. Through the lens of polymer physics, we argue that if all chains would stretch to a similar extent, a clear correlation length of the stickers in the direction of the flow emerges, which may indeed favour such a registration effect. Through simulations in both extensional flow and shear, we show that there is, on the other hand, a very broad distribution of protein–chain stretch, which suggests the registration of proteins is not directly coupled to the applied strain, but may be a slow statistical process. This qualitative prediction seems to be consistent with the large strains (i.e., at long time scales) required to induce gelation in our rheological measurements under constant shear. We discuss our perspective of how the flow-induced self-assembly of silk may be addressed by new experiments and model development.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | sticky rouse; tube model; brownian dynamics; silk registration |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Materials Science and Engineering (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL EP/K005693/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 27 Apr 2021 12:45 |
Last Modified: | 27 Apr 2021 12:45 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | MDPI AG |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.3390/molecules26061663 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:173489 |
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