Companies Genetically Engineer Spider Silk

gthuang88 writes: Spider silk is touted for its strength and potential to be used in body armor, sports gear, and even artificial tendons and implants. Now several companies including EntoGenetics, Kraig Labs, and Araknitek have developed genetic approaches to producing commercial quantities of the stuff. One method is to implant spider genes into silkworms, which then act as spider-silk factories. Another is to place the gene that encodes spider web production into the DNA of goats; these "spidergoats" then produce milk containing spider-silk proteins that can be extracted. There's still a long way to go, however, and big companies like DuPont and BASF have tried and failed to commercialize similar materials.

Comments

Spider Goats

[Anonymous Coward]

What could possibly go wrong. Better hope they don't mutate or start biting people.

Re:To GMO or not to GMO?

[MightyYar]

The Amish are thriving.

They exist completely at the whim of their benevolent neighbors. They are here precisely because the Swiss were coming down on them rather hard. If we all became Amish, "we" wouldn't be around for very long.