Scale-up and optimization of recombinant spider wrapping silk fibre and yarn production.

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Spider wrapping silk is one of the toughest known materials, meaning it can absorb more energy per unit mass before breaking than almost any other material. This silk is composed of a single protein, rendering it completely biodegradable. Working together, the Rainey and Liu labs have developed a highly efficient method to produce silk recombinantly using a non-pathogenic strain of bacteria (Escherichia coli). Beyond circumventing the challenges inherent in harvesting silk from spiders, two additional benefits arise: (1) E. coli is extremely tractable to methods of molecular biology that allow direct and straightforward modification of proteins at the level of individual amino acids; and, (2) protein production may readily be scaled up. We have developed ~50 different variations of recombinant spider wrapping silk alongside a novel method to allow automated spinning of fibres. Notably, our automatically spun recombinant silk fibres have mechanical properties rivaling any synthetic material reported to date and are approaching those of native spider wrapping silk.