Researchers from the University of Wyoming, claims to have discovered how to breed the goats with Spider's DNA that can produce spider silk. Referring to Phys.org, these findings have contributed to medical purposes such as to create the artificial tendons and ligaments.
The man who contributed behind the invention is Randy Lewis, a professor of molecular biology at the university. Working together with other researchers, he managed to extract the spider silk genes and incorporate them into a goat to produce a (silk) protein in their milk. However, not all goats can be infiltrated with spider genes.
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| Goats that produce spider silk protein in their milk could enable researchers to collect large quantities of the silk. (Picture from: http://bit.ly/1Ud2mFS) |
Evidently, only three of the seven goats that could produce silk protein in the experiments occours in 2010. In spite of that, from this discovery Lewis earned its reputation as a biology scientist; he managed to collect thousands of pounds of recombinant spider silk from goat milk that he bred.
The good news, the goat does not show odd behavior after the injection of spider's DNA. It still behaves like goats in general; eating grass and still can not be united with rain.
Currently the scientists have to do the same discourse of the alfalfa plants -- the plants are used as animal feed. These plants can reliably generate the amount of silk more than goats. This plant is believed to generate as much as 20% to 25% of protein, and is ideal to produce silk protein. Moreover, according to them, these plants spread in a wider places.
Spider silk has become an important component for medical and industrial purposes. As mentioned earlier, spider silk is usually used to create a artificial ligaments, fixing jaw, and sew the eye. Spider silk is also used in several other applications such as bullet-proof vests and car airbags. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | PHYS.ORG]
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