Silkworm Biofactory: Silk to Biology

Silkworms have been used for centuries for economic purposes, but recent research has shown that they can also be used to produce recombinant proteins for biomedical applications. The Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) bacmid system has been developed to express recombinant proteins in silkworm larvae or pupae, making it a powerful tool in the proteome era. This volume explores gene expression systems and silkworm research and focuses on silkworm biofactories for recombinant protein production and commercial applications.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 300 pages
Publication date: 31 March 2021
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Silk derived from silkworms has been of economic importance for centuries, but recently it has been discovered to have utility in biomedicine. This has led to the expression of eukaryotic recombinant proteins, which require post-translational modifications. In 1985, Dr. Susumu Maeda demonstrated that silkworm larvae could produce a functional human-interferon. Since then, various techniques have been developed to express recombinant proteins in silkworms. With the development of the Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) bacmid system, which is capable of replicating in both Escherichia coli and Bombyx mori-derived cell lines or silkworms, silkworm larvae or pupae have been used for the expression system for recombinant protein production. This method has the advantage of a bacmid, in that it can be easily prepared for sufficient bacmid DNA for subsequent expression in silkworms. It is potentially a big breakthrough in the production of recombinant eukaryotic proteins and viruses, which will be a powerful tool in a new proteome era. This volume contributes to the advancement of our knowledge in the subject, focusing on gene expression systems and silkworm research, and silkworm biofactories for the recombinant protein production and commercial applications of proteins.

Weight: 567g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367780722