2019, Machałowski, Tomasz, Wysokowski, Marcin, Tsurkan, Mikhail V., Galli, Roberta, Schimpf, Christian, Rafaja, David, Brendler, Erica, Viehweger, Christine, Zółtowska-Aksamitowska, Sonia, Petrenko, Iaroslav, Czaczyk, Katarzyna, Kraft, Michael, Bertau, Martin, Bechmann, Nicole, Guan, Kaomei, Bornstein, Stefan R., Voronkina, Alona, Fursov, Andriy, Bejger, Magdalena, Biniek-Antosiak, Katarzyna, Rypniewski, Wojciech, Figlerowicz, Marek, Pokrovsky, Oleg, Jesionowski, Teofil, Ehrlich, Hermann

Chitin, as a fundamental polysaccharide in invertebrate skeletons, continues to be actively investigated, especially with respect to new sources and the development of effective methods for its extraction. Recent attention has been focused on marine crustaceans and sponges; however, the potential of spiders (order Araneae) as an alternative source of tubular chitin has been overlooked. In this work, we focused our attention on chitin from up to 12 cm-large Theraphosidae spiders, popularly known as tarantulas or bird-eating spiders. These organisms “lose” large quantities of cuticles during their molting cycle. Here, we present for the first time a highly effective method for the isolation of chitin from Caribena versicolor spider molt cuticle, as well as its identification and characterization using modern analytical methods. We suggest that the tube-like molt cuticle of this spider can serve as a naturally prefabricated and renewable source of tubular chitin with high potential for application in technology and biomedicine. © 2019 by the authors.

2017-4-12, Freudenberger, Jens, Rafaja, David, Geissler, David, Giebeler, Lars, Ullrich, Christiane, Kauffmann, Alexander, Heilmaier, Martin, Nielsch, Kornelius

A single-phase solid solution is observed in quaternary and quinary alloys obtained from gold, copper, nickel, palladium and platinum. The lattice parameters of the alloys follow the linear rule of mixture when considering the lattice parameters of the elements and their concentration. The elements are a priori not homogeneously distributed within the respective alloys resulting in segregations. These segregations cause a large broadening of X-ray lines, which is accessed in the present article. This correlation is visualized by the help of local element mappings utilizing scanning electron microscopy including energy dispersive X-ray analysis and their quantitative analysis.