6. But we can’t breed spiders because they kill each other … So, what is the solution ? So spider silk is very useful GRRR !!! Yum Yum !
7. How to reproduce artificially spider silk? Scientists have studied how spiders make their silk: Silk proteins are long molecules form a viscous solution passes in a very fine canal of spider’s gland molecules become aligned The spider stretches the gel before it dries viscosity drops by a factor of 500 or more…
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9. One of the ideas is described in the following video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRTZMhYWKmY&NR=1
10. One of the ideas is : to produce the spider silk proteins in the milk of goats Transgenic goats produce in their milk spider silk proteins ! The spider silk genes are introduced into goat embryos The embryos are implanted in surrogate mothers At birth, kids are carriers of spider silk genes !!
11. Proteins are separated from the milk and purified They pass under pressure in microscopic holes to force them to align. The thread is stretched to give it its mechanical properties We obtain transgenic thread ! To obtain transgenic thread :