D3210: Elucidation of structural proteins used in construction of mud dauber nests and caddisfly cases

Mud daubers are capable of constructing water resistant, thermally regulating, and durable nests using structural proteins from their saliva. Literature searches revealed no information regarding the structure of the proteins used in the nests of mud daubers. Recently acquired state-of-the-art instrumentation capabilities in EL (e.g., MALDI-TOF-MS, HPLC-HRAM-MS) will be coupled with soil characterization instrumentation (e.g., XRD, SEM, elemental analysis, etc.) to elucidate the properties of these proteins and soil characteristics. Secondary and tertiary structure of the proteins will be estimated by I-TASSER, providing insight into the role these proteins have in developing the strength, thermal regulation, and water resistance of the nests.