SpiderWorms: Using silkworms as hosts to produce a hybrid silkworm-spider silk fiber

Current research involves the mass production and development of new applications for synthetic spider silk. Since spider silk is not easily harvested from spiders, the large-scale production of spider silk must be done through more scalable systems. These systems include genetically modified goats, E.coli, alfalfa, and silkworms. This project focuses on the creation hybrid silkworm-spider silk fibers through the genetic modification of silkworms. DNA plasmids containing 64 and 48 repeats of the minor ampullate spider silk gene will be created and incorporated into the silkworm genome through non-homologous end joining. Once the transgenic silkworms form cocoons, the hybrid silk will be tested and compared to the non-transgenic silkworm silk. Lastly, a cross breeding study will be conducted to follow how the spider silk proteins can be combined in the transgenic silkworm fibers through generations