Loading patent…
OwnerMalcolm James FRASER, Randy LEWIS +7inventors
InventorsMalcolm James FRASER, Randy LEWIS, Don JARVIS, Kimberly THOMPSON, Joseph HULL, Yun-Gen MIAO, Florence TEULE, Bonghee SOHN, Youngsoo KIM
Estimating the term…
Transgenic silkworms comprising at least one nucleic acid encoding a chimeric silk polypeptide comprising one or more spider silk elasticity and strength motifs are disclosed. Expression cassettes comprising nucleic acids encoding a variety of chimeric spider silk polypeptides (Spider 2, Spider 4, Spider 6, Spider 8) are also disclosed. A piggyBac vector system is used to incorporate nucleic acids encoding chimeric spider silk polypeptides into the mutant silkworms to generate stable transgenic silkworms. Chimeric silk fibers having improved tensile strength and elasticity characteristics compared to native silkworm silk fibers are also provided. The transgenic silkworms greatly facilitate the commercial production of chimeric silk fibers suitable for use in a wide variety of medical and industrial applications.
A chimeric spider silk polypeptide comprising an N-terminal fragment of a Bombyx mori fhc silk polypeptide, one or more spider silk motifs selected from the group consisting of an elasticity motif and a silk strength motif, and a C-terminal fragment of a Bombyx mori fhc silk polypeptide.
A transgenic silkworm comprising a nucleic acid of claim 11.
A nucleic acid encoding a chimeric spider silk polypeptide, comprising an N-terminal fragment of a Bombyx mori fhc silk polypeptide, one or more spider silk motifs selected from the group consisting of an elasticity motif and a strength motif, and a C-terminal fragment of a Bombyx mori fhc silk polypeptide.
The piggyBac vector of claim 30, designated pXLBacII-ECFP NTD CTD maspX16, comprising the sequence specified in SEQ ID NO:
The piggyBac vector of claim 30, designated pXLBacII-ECFP NTD CTD maspX24, comprising the sequence specified in SEQ ID NO:
A method of making a chimeric spider silk fiber comprising:
A method of preparing a transgenic Bombyx mori silkworm capable of stably expressing a chimeric spider silk polypeptide suitable for assembly into a chimeric spider silk fiber, said method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.