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n2doc

(47,953 posts)
Sat Jun 22, 2013, 03:02 PM Jun 2013

GM silkworms bred to spin fluorescent silk



(Phys.org) —Scientists in Japan have genetically engineered silkworms to create red, green or orange silks that glow under fluorescent lights.

The silkworm is the larval form of the domesticated silkmoth (Bombyx mori) and is one of only two insects domesticated by humans (the other being the bee). The larvae build a cocoon around themselves in which to pupate, and each cocoon is made from a fine protein thread of silk up to 900 meters in length. Silk is made by harvesting the cocoons (with larvae inside) and softening them so the threads can be reeled. Around 6,000 cocoons are needed to make a kilogram of silk. Normal silk is a soft, white thread.

Now a research team led by Tetsuya Iizuka and Toshiki Tamura of the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences in Ibaraki, Japan, has genetically modified the silkworm by transplanting genes from organisms that produce fluorescent proteins into the silkworm genome at the site coding for the silk fiber protein fibroin. The genes they used to make the transgenic silkworms came from the Fungia concinna coral (orange), Discoma coral (red) or jellyfish (green).

Silkworms had previously been genetically modified to produce human collagen proteins and spider silk. Co-author Tamura, said they had earlier produced green fluorescent protein that was used to make beautiful silks, and the new research extended the method to produce the three fluorescent silks in large enough amounts to be useful in making fabrics.

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http://phys.org/news/2013-06-gm-silkworms-bred-fluorescent.html
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GM silkworms bred to spin fluorescent silk (Original Post) n2doc Jun 2013 OP
I see no problem with this... wundermaus Jun 2013 #1
Oh noooos! Frankensilk! longship Jun 2013 #2
They weren't "bred" with other silkworms to do this. They were ENGINEERED to do it. kestrel91316 Jun 2013 #3
 

kestrel91316

(51,666 posts)
3. They weren't "bred" with other silkworms to do this. They were ENGINEERED to do it.
Sat Jun 22, 2013, 03:34 PM
Jun 2013

All the silkworm breeding in the world won't put a novel gene into the genome.

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