1 / 6

Spider Silk

Kraig’s spider silk technology builds upon the unique advantages of the domesticated silkworm for this application. The silkworm is ideally suited to produce genetically engineered spider silk because it is already an efficient commercial and industrial producer of silk. Forty percent (40%) of the caterpillars’ weight is devoted to the silk glands. The silk glands produce large volumes of protein, called fibroin, which are then spun into a composite protein thread (silk).

graysherry24
Download Presentation

Spider Silk

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. SpiderSilk:Nature HiddenTechnology

  2. Historically,theideaofa fabricmadefromspidersilk thatisstrongenoughto withstandextremeforces suchasbeinghitbybullets, butsoftandcomfortable enoughtobewornas normal,everydayclothes hasbeenadreamfor centuries,butfewhavebeen abletoproduceituntilvery recently.

  3. Withinadistinctivefibre,therearecrystallinesectorswith amorphouslinkages.Thesecrystalsectorsarebeta-sheets, whichareputtogether.Spidersilkisveryflexible,andcan bestretchedupto40percentofitsoriginallengthwithno breakageproblems.Thisresultsinahighductility.Liquid crystallinespinningofspidersilkissimilartoaromatic nylon.Spidersilkismadeofcomplexmoleculesofprotein. Spidercan'tbefarmedsuchassilkworms,astheyare cannibals.Duetothisnaturetheyeveneateachother.The silkextractedisveryfine,thustomakeonesquareyard cloth400spidersarerequire.Thefibregetshardenwhenit isexposedtoopenairthatcreatesaproblemtoworkwith. BecauseoftherepetitivesymptomsoftheDNAencodingit isdifficulttorecognizeitssequence.Onlyfrom14species theproteinhasbeendecoded.

  4. Thesilkglandreleasesthefibre.Different spiderspecieshavedifferentglandsfor theirownreasonlikeweb-creation, housing,capturingthepreyanddefense. Thevisiblepartoftheglandiscalledasthe spinneret.Theinitialpartoftheglandisfull ofthiolandtyrosine,thekeyingredientsin silkfibre.Aftermakingoffibres,the ampullaplaysroleofastoragebox.Here, spinningductsweeps-offwaterfromthe fiberandsmallchannelsalsohelpinthis process.Liquidseparationisconductedat thevergethedistallimboftheduct,and furtherpassestothevalve.Thevalveis anticipatedtohelpinfixingbrokenfibers again,playingmoreinthepathofahelical pump.

  5. Thespider'sspinneretisablein turnthesilkproteinsinto strongdomains.Particularly, thespinneretmakesanincline ofproteinconcentration,pH andpressurethatleadsthe proteinblendthroughliquid crystallinetransitions,resulting creationtherequiredsilk structure.Imitatingthis processinlaboratoryhasbeen witnessedverytough.Nexia triedtoimitatethisprocessby pressingthesolutionofprotein viafineholes; however,this wasinefficienttrialtomanage thefibresappropriately.

  6. ContactUs KraigBiocraftLaboratories, Inc. 2723SouthStateStreet Suite150AnnArbor, Michigan48104 734-619-8066 Email: corporate@KraigLabs.com

More Related