Biological organisms often carry out extremely complex chemistry or have other peculiar traits like the ability to glow that industrial technologists would love to exploit. Once the genes responsible for these traits have been identified, they can be cut and spliced into other organisms, which then perform the required task in a controlled manner. DuPont, for example, which owns the Kevlar, Teflon and Nylon brands, is attempting to move away from non-renewable raw materials, like the petrochemicals, normally used to create its fibres. As well as conducting specialist crop-growing programmes, the company is investigating the potential of the bacterial world as a possible supplier. One such project is producing silk fibres made by E. Coli bacteria that have been modified with genes derived from spiders.
Spiders produce silks that are astonishingly strong.
The dragline silk that supports the load of a spider and web is, weight for weight, stronger than steel. Its breaking strength is similar to Kevlar, the fibre used in bullet-proof vests, and it is also stretchable like elastic. The DuPont team studied the genes responsible for making these fibres and made their own artificial versions. They then inserted the synthesised gene into E. Coli bacteria, which became artificial spiders. We now have materials that would be useful in the marketplace, largely in textiles.