Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 9, 2026

Synthetic Spider Silk Production on a Laboratory Scale
Published on: July 18, 2012
Continuous production of flexible fibers from transgenically produced honeybee silk proteins
Jacinta Poole1, Jeffrey S Church, Andrea L Woodhead
1CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering, Bayview Avenue, Clayton, VIC 3169, Australia.
Abstract:
Flexible and solvent stable fibers are produced after concentrated recombinant honeybee protein solutions are extruded into a methanol bath, dried, drawn in aqueous methanol, then covalently cross-linked using dry heat. Proteins in solution are predominantly coiled coil. Significant levels of non-orientated ß-sheets form during drying or after coagulation in aqueous methanol. Drawing generally aligns the coiled coil component parallel with the fibre axis and ß-sheet component perpendicular to the fiber axis. The fibres are readily handled, stable in the strong protein denaturants, urea and guanidinium, and suitable for a range of applications such as weaving and knitting.
Related Concept Videos
Transgenic Organisms
Production of Pharmaceuticals
Fibrous Proteins
