公开(公告)号：US20210047655A1

公开(公告)日：2021-02-18

申请号：US16995372

申请日：2020-08-17

Applicant: Utah State University

Inventor： Randolph V. LEWIS ,  Justin A. JONES ,  Xiaoli ZHANG

IPC: C12N15/85 ,  C07K14/78 ,  C07K14/46

Abstract: Transgenic silkworms stably expressing hagfish thread keratin genes or composite silkworm/hagfish thread keratin genes are disclosed. The exogenous hagfish thread keratin genes are stably integrated into a defined site of the fibroin heavy chain intron or a fibroin light chain intron of silkworms. Synthetic hagfish thread keratin proteins and composite hagfish thread keratin-silkworm genes and proteins are provided. The expression of exogenous hagfish thread keratin genes is driven by the endogenous fibroin heavy chain promoter, improving the genetic stability of transgenic silkworms. The composite silkworm/hagfish thread keratin fibers exhibit exceptional mechanical performance, compared to normal silkworm silk fibers and other transgenic silkworm fibers.