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Investigation of Antimicrobial Properties of Spider Silk

Sharma, Shagun
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1418647204

Abstract Details

2014, Master of Science, University of Akron, Biology.
Natural antimicrobials have great success in the chemical space for the discovery of antimicrobials against resistant microorganisms. Spider silk and silkworm silk are two natural fibers of interest for the development of a variety of biomedical devices, including antimicrobial sutures. Spider silk is mainly known for its remarkable mechanical properties and unique molecular structure. Silk can be considered as a potential biomaterial for the development of surgical sutures and tissue scaffold formations because of its desirable biomedical properties like slow biodegradability, biocompatibility, wound healing, and nerve regeneration. Various studies have investigated antimicrobial properties of spider silk, but the data were either inconclusive or there were methodological issues in the techniques used.To understand whether spider silk actively inhibits the growth of microorganisms or is otherwise naturally resistant to bacteria, two different experiments were performed in this study: i) spot assay (antibacterial test) to examine the presence of any non-diffusible inhibitory agent. contact-inhibition- to examine any bactericidal or bacteriostatic action, and ii) scanning electron microscopy analysis- to investigate whether bacteria adheres to spider silk. Both experiments used dragline silk pulled directly from the major ampullate spigot of the orb-weaving spider Argiope aurantia. Organic extracts of spider silk in spot analysis showed absence of any non-difusible agent. Microbial growth curves obtained from Escherichia coli (gram negative bacteria), Bacillus subtilis (gram positive bacteria) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Gram negative bacteria) showed no significant effect on bacterial growth patterns. However, sem showed low adherence of bacteria onto the silk surface in comparison to control tubes for the gram negative bacteria (E. coli and P. aeruginosa). Spider silk did not show any significant resistance of adherence of B. subtilis, a gram positive bacterium. spider silk also showed low bacterial adherence in the crevices generated between multiple threads. these results suggest that Argiope dragline silk does not actively inhibit bacterial growth, but is resistant to adherence by gram negative bacteria. spider dragline silk may therefore have unique surface properties that prevent attachment by gram negative bacteria. therefore, investigating these properties may reveal the biomaterials for therapeutic purposes in the field of antimicrobial surface coatings.
Todd Blackledge, Dr. (Advisor)
Hazel Barton, Dr. (Committee Member)
Mathew Shawkey, Dr. (Committee Member)
59 p.
Biology; Materials Science; Microbiology
Spider silk, Antimicrobial, biomaterials, material science

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Sharma, S. (2014). Investigation of Antimicrobial Properties of Spider Silk [Master's thesis, University of Akron]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1418647204

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Sharma, Shagun. Investigation of Antimicrobial Properties of Spider Silk . 2014. University of Akron, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1418647204.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Sharma, Shagun. "Investigation of Antimicrobial Properties of Spider Silk ." Master's thesis, University of Akron, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1418647204

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

akron1418647204
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This open access ETD is published by University of Akron and OhioLINK.