5 Key Takeaways

• 1

  Spider dragline silk exhibits high tensile strength and toughness due to specific amino acid interactions during fiber formation.

• 2

  Cation-π interactions between arginine and tyrosine residues facilitate liquid–liquid phase separation in spider silk proteins.

• 3

  Phosphate ions trigger phase separation in native silk proteins without causing widespread β-sheet formation.

• 4

  Experimental and computational methods confirmed that Arg-Tyr interactions are retained in spun spider silk fibers.

• 5

  The findings have potential applications in lightweight protective clothing, biodegradable implants, and soft robotics.