| abstract |
A transgenic silkworm having a gene encoding a chimeric spider silk protein having a spider silk domain specific to a spider silk elastic motif sequence and / or a strength motif sequence, and a natural silkworm silk that has been engineered to express the same. Providing silkworm silk fibers having improved strength (tension) and elastic properties compared to fibers. A piggyBac vector system, prepared using a gene expression cassette, containing several synthetic spider silk protein sequences, is used to transform a mutant silkworm in the presence of a helper plasmid, A stable transformant in which a chimeric spider silk gene is incorporated into a silkworm. The transgenic silkworm is an efficient spider silk-producing organism suitable for commercial production of silk fibers. A silk fiber having improved strength and elasticity produced by the transgenic silkworm. [Selection] Figure 5 |