Hello again,
So last time I sort of described what my protein would look like as a model, but I think the picture I found makes it easier to understand. When we were discussing the dynamic shapes some proteins have, I was intrigued, and realized that this could easily be applied to the spider capture silk protein I am working on. Some flexible electric wire wrapped in silk could move pretty well, and would do a good job of illustrating what the protein actually does.
I forgot to say that the third example is what I was planning to do.
Sorry we didn’t get a chance on Monday to talk in class about your interesting “silky” project. In 2010 a really interesting research article came out showing how the silk molecule switches from the stored “liquid” form to the “air-dried” fibrous form. If you are on campus, you can access the article here: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v465/n7295/full/nature08936.html
As your third example shows, silk fibers are largely made up of fully extended protein chains lined up next to one another to form (not shown in your third example) wide beta sheets. Interestingly, the structure analysis in the published paper proves that the liquid form of silk is mainly alpha helical. Fiber polymerization is therefore a change from alpha-to-beta secondary structure that is fairly similar to the transition that occurs when a prion protein switches from its normal alpha structure to the infectious beta structure.
See you Wednesday.