Patent ID: 7157615

Claim:
A transgenic female ruminant comprising germline and somatic cells that comprise a nucleic acid molecule comprising a mouse whey acidic protein (WAP) promoter operably linked to a nucleotide seciuence encoding a polypeptide, wherein the polypeptide comprises a biofilament polypeptide and a leader sequence that enables secretion of the biofilament polypeptide by milk-producing cells into milk of the ruminant, wherein the biofilament polypeptide is a dragline silk polypeptide selected from the group consisting of Araneus diadematus fibroin-3 (“ADF-3”), Araneus diadematus fibroin-4 (“ADF-4”), Neyhila clavipes dragline silk-1 (“NcDS-1”), and Nephila clavipes dragline silk-2 (“NcDS-2”), and wherein the ruminant secretes the biofilament polypeptide into milk.