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Genetically Modifying Silk Worms For Super Silk
New submitter davidshenba sends this quote from the BBC:
"U.S. researchers have created silkworms that are genetically modified to spin much stronger silk (abstract). In weight-for-weight terms, spider silk is stronger than steel. ... Researchers have been trying to reproduce such silk for decades. But it is unfeasible to 'farm' spiders for the commercial production of their silk because the arachnids don't produce enough of it — coupled with their proclivity for eating each other. Silk worms, however, are easy to farm and produce vast amounts of silk — but the material is fragile. Researchers have tried for years to get the best of both worlds — super-strong silk in industrial quantities — by transplanting genes from spiders into worms. But the resulting genetically modified worms have not produced enough spider silk until now. GM worms produced by a team led by Professor Don Jarvis of Wyoming University seem to be producing a composite of worm and spider silk in large amounts — which the researchers say is just as tough as spider silk."
welcome our new super silkworm overlords.
Inside the article there was a mention that the GM silk could post a threat to the environment.
Call me dense, but I just don't get it.
We are not talking about something that last forever or what, we are talking about silk - something that is totally biodegradable, and some more, the GM material is a combination of silkworm and spider, both exist in nature.
Anyhoo, congrats to the scientists who come up with this idea.
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Then everything will be fine.
Actual quote from the actual fine article:
their eventual aim is to produce silk from worms that has the toughness of spider silk.
Something bad is coming when people are suddenly anxious to tell the truth.
Wonder if this is a part of an lead-in on the research.
Looks like WYU is sitting on a ton of patents around spider silk technologies.
Nicer pictures of this article can be found at http://inhabitat.com/genetically-modified-silkworms-spin-super-strong-spider-silk-for-bandages-and-bulletproof-vests/
I thought they were putting those spider genes into goats years ago to have them spin the super silk instead of milk. I guess that went nowhere.. I would have liked to seen some goat-spider beast running around...
So many injustices..so little time..
I have to upgrade my hovertank to silksteel armor, Yang won't know what hit him!!
when da bitches try to rip em off me.
The problem is that loose thread was like a cheese wire and it ripped your dick off
I hope the Chinese get the credit for the original silkworm genes
Pound-for-pound, the amoeba is the most vicious animal on Earth.
It's also interesting for things that are only partly silk. Pashmina wool comes from the underside of the chin of the nepalese goat and is amazingly soft, but very fragile. You can't make things from it if you want to be able to wear them more than once, so you mix in some silk to add strength[1], but the more silk you add the more of the softness and warmth you lose. Stronger silk would mean that you could weave fabrics with a very small amount of silk and a lot of something softer.
[1] It amused me to see street sellers in NYC advertising pashmina shawls as '50% silk!' as if that was a good thing. The high quality ones are at most 20% silk. The silk is a lot cheaper than the wool.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
it is unfeasible to 'farm' spiders for the commercial production of their silk because the arachnids don't produce enough of it
These spiders obviously need a harsh lesson about the economic climate we live in. They're never going to produce enough if you just get some other creatures to make it instead. Rank all the spiders by silk production, fire the ones at the bottom of the list. Things'll soon turn around.
coupled with their proclivity for eating each other
That's actually a good sign. A little healthy competitive pressure.
Now I have worm senses.
I know that in this area of CT the mulberry trees were destroyed by introduction of silkworms.
You are aware that mulberry trees are the natural habitat of silkworms? They're specialists and don't live on anything else. Moreover, it sounds like before that there was relatively little predation upon those trees, allowing them to get much larger and more common than would normally happen. Because of that, what you had there was a classic case of what happens when a predator species is introduced into a prey-rich environment. It happens.
"Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
"More to the point, can't better silk be synthetically produced on a large scale? Same question applies for other animal based textiles, such as wool, leather, fur, etc"
No.
and no.
next question?
Okay lets get a little real here.
1. leather. leather has some qualities that are not found in any other material. It is required for motorcycle racers to wear because it offers the best protection. Nothing man made can replace it. Also most leather is a by product of animals being killed for meat. Exceptions are for some of the exotics which if you want to boycot be my guest as they are nothing but an ego trip. So as long as people eat meat using the leather from that does not contribute to any suffering.
2. Wool. Sheep don't die to get wool folks. As far as I know sheep raised for wool are protected, feed, and cared for by humans. It is an actual advantage for the Sheep and is an almost symbiotic relationship. So what is wrong with wool?
3. Fur. Well unless you live in the arctic I see no reason to wear it. So boycot that all you want.
Silk! if we could make it we would. So no there is no better way. Besides they are just bugs. Sorry folks but if you kill flys, ants, and roaches then you really shouldn't have an issue with this.
I do not like "factory farms" and other forms of animal cruelty but when you go too far in your objections it marginalizes the argument. AKA Wool.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
I am extremely ok with spider farming being infeasible. Accidentally wandering into a spider farm is the stuff of nightmares.
It amused me to see street sellers in NYC advertising pashmina shawls as '50% silk!' as if that was a good thing.
Amazing, since otherwise they seem like the kind of people you can trust.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
What? Gypsy Moth is Lymantria dispar. Silk worm is Bombyx mori. There are many types of mulberry, and while I'm sure the others have been introduced, there is a species of mulberry tree native to CT.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
I used to own stock in Nexia Biotechnologies, a Canadian company. The goats weren't the problem. Extracting the silk proteins from the milk weren't the problem. Spinning the proteins into silk strands were the problem!
Many of the same proposed applications of the spider silk biosteel could also be fulfilled by nanotubes, but nanotubes would be even stronger. During the same time period that Nexia was improving its spinning process, several companies were making breakthroughs with nanotube manufacturing so that the price per inch would dramatically fall. Nexia saw the writing on the wall. Someone, somewhere, would make cheap nanotubes of appreciable lengths well before Nexia could make a competing offering.
There's also the debacle of Nexia vs. the FDA. Nexia argued that since their silks were natural substances, they didn't need stringent safety testing for applications such as medical sutures. The FDA agreed so Nexia pushed ahead with their next stages of research. Down the road, the FDA changed their mind. Nexia didn't have the capital to afford all the testing trials the FDA was now demanding.
Well before the Chinese company acquired Nexia, Nexia sold most of its intellectual property to an American company (in Virginia? Wyoming?). The bulk of that IP is proven counter-agents to certain chemical warfare attacks.
Interestingly, Nexia was trying to splice spider silk DNA into plants. Grow them as a crop. Grind up their leaves. Sift out the proteins. But then you're still stuck with the underwhelming spinning process.
"Love heals scars love left." -- Henry Rollins