silk gland

Any of the various glands in silk-spinning insects and spiders that secrete a fluid that hardens into silk on exposure to air.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Noun

silk gland - silk-producing gland of insects (especially of a silkworm) or spiders

sericterium, serictery

silkworm - the commercially bred hairless white caterpillar of the domestic silkworm moth which spins a cocoon that can be processed to yield silk fiber; the principal source of commercial silk

giant silkworm, wild wilkworm, silkworm - larva of a saturniid moth; spins a large amount of strong silk in constructing its cocoon

gland, secreter, secretor, secretory organ - any of various organs that synthesize substances needed by the body and release it through ducts or directly into the bloodstream

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References in periodicals archive ?

Moult-related changes in ampullate silk gland morphology and usage in the araneid spider Araneus cavaticus.

Sexual dimorphism in the spinning apparatus of Allocosa senex (Araneae: Lycosidae), a wolf spider with a reversal in typical sex roles

Sumida, "Enzymatic properties of fibroinase of silk gland from day one pupa of the silkworm, Bombyx mori," Journal of Insect Biotechnology and Sericology, vol.

Application of Food-Grade Proteolytic Enzyme for the Hydrolysis of Regenerated Silk Fibroin from Bombyx mori

The biggest surprise was the discovery that one of the orb-weaver's spidroins -- FLAG-b, a novel discovery by the group -- appears to be produced primarily in the orb-weaver's venom gland rather than in any silk gland, hinting at intriguing new functions for silk connected to prey capture, immobilization, or preservation.

Mysterious Powers of Spider Silks

clavipes' venom gland, instead of in a silk gland. This suggests the silk produced there could have functions linked to capture, immobilization and preservation or prey.

Genome Study To Understand Unique Properties Of Spider Silk

nutrition and their occurrence in haemolymph, silk gland and silk cocoons--A review.

Aplicaciones de la sericina: una proteina globular proveniente de la seda

Recently, silkworm is being used as biofactory for the production of useful protein using silk gland, which has promoted the technological development in sericulture [2].

Silk fibroin coated with poly 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate impregnated with silver nanoparticles coupled with ciprofloxacin as a biomaterial for biomedical applications

This study was carried out to identify and compare the alterations of the total proteins and esterases in larvae silk gland of healthy and infected with nucleopolyhedrovirus B.

Comparative electrophoretic profile of proteins and esterases in healthy silkworm larvae (Bombyx mori Lineu, 1758) and infected with nucleopolyhedrovirus/Perfil eletroforetico comparativo de proteinas e esterases em lagartas de bicho da seda (Bombyx mori Lineu, 1758) saudaveis e infectadas por nucleopoliedrovirus

Bhaskar et al., 1983) reported that vertebrate pituitary extract influenced the growth, biochemical composition of silk gland and cocoon yield.

Dexamethasone induced changes in protein metabolism of silkworm larvae Bombyx mori (L)

Antrodiaetus has four functional spinnerets and one kind of silk gland that produces the two different types of protein that comprise their silk threads (Palmer et al.

Evolutionary shifts in the spectral properties of spider silks

To clarify the silk gland types present in widow spiders, we reinvestigated the silk glands from the Western black widow, Latrodectus Hesperus Chamberlin & Ivie, 1935.

Dissection of silk glands in the Western black widow Latrodectus Hesperus

Scientists in Kessler's and Scheibel's team had last year investigated the common garden spider ("cross spider") to discover the mechanism behind the transition from individual spider silk molecules to connected treads: The individual spider silk proteins are first stored in the silk gland in small drops called micelles.

Secret behind spider silk's extreme strength decoded

The situation within the silk gland is, however, very different: he silk proteins are stored in high concentrations in an aqueous environment, awaiting deployment.