Any study aspiring to understand how spidroin gene expression influences MA silk nanostructure formation must reliably measure the size, density, orientation, and distances between the crystalline and non-crystalline nanostructures in the silk proteins in addition to genetic expression. Techniques such as small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), Raman and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy, have been used to examine the nanostructures of MA silk’s proteins [28–31]. Of these only synchrotron-derived SAXS and WAXS can explicitly and reliably measure nanoscale variability in silk crystallinity, and the size, density, orientation, and distance between individual crystalline and non-crystalline nanostructures . For instance, SAXS derived parameters such as the meridional peak and long period can be used to elucidate nanostructure alignment in the silk’s amorphous and lamellar regions [34–36]. WAXS on the other hand can be used to determine silk crystallinity, and the size, density, and orientation, of crystalline nanostructures by examining the scattering pattern and diffraction angles (θ) at specific high intensity diffraction peaks . For spider silk the diffraction peaks at the (200), (120) or (002) regions identified on two dimensional WAXS images are of particular interest as they are associated with scattering from crystalline β–sheets [37,39–41]. SAXS and WAXS accordingly are tools appropriate for measuring and classifying silks based on the size, alignment, and distances, between and within crystalline and non-crystalline nanostructures .