Spider silk of Linothele fallax and Linothele megatheloides (Mygalomorphae, Dipluridae) does not affect the growth of bacteria

Due to physical and chemical properties as well as biocompatibility, spider silk has a great potential for use in medicine and biotechnology. It is applicable in the regeneration of the skin and nerve grafts. In this work, antibacterial property of spider silk was investigated. This feature would be especially useful for the application of spider threads in medicine. Silk of the spiders Linothele fallax (Mello-Leitao, 1926) and Linothele megatheloides Paz & Raven, 1990 was tested on Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Enterococcus faecalis. Prior to inoculation, thesilk was weighed, sterilized with hydrogen peroxide and the effect of the silk on bacteria was tested in Mueller-Hinton broth. A lack of antibacterial properties of the silk of L. fallax and L. megatheloides was observed. The results on antimicrobial properties of silk of mygalomorph spiders are published for the first time.