| Abstract Detail
Plant biotech & Risk Assessment kariyat ramachandran, rupesh ram [1], steinkraus, holly [2], groose, robin waldo [3], lewis, randolph [2]. Transgenic alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) expressing spider silk protein: A value addition to the “Queen of forages”. Spider dragline silk is a unique biomaterial that is nature’s strongest known fiber. Dragline silk has high tensile strength and toughness; therefore, spider silk has many potential industrial and medical applications. Widespread use of this fiber requires cost-effective commercial manufacturing protocols that are lacking at present. Agricultural biotechnology coupled with recombinant dragline silk protein extraction from transgenic plants can address this issue. This study was carried out to examine the expression of silk protein in transgenic alfalfa. An alfalfa clone expressing the protein was crossed with the commercially available alfalfa cultivar WISFAL (Medicago sativa ssp falcata) in the University of Wyoming greenhouse complex. The F1 generation was grown in a growth chamber and later in a green house bench under controlled conditions. Southern and Western blot analyses were carried out on leaf tissue samples from selected F1 clones. Our results show that 50% of the F1 progeny have the MaSp 1 (Major Ampullate Silk Protein 1) silk gene integrated into the genome and 25% of the F1 progeny express the MaSp 1 protein in leaf tissue, thus adding an additional value to alfalfa, Queen of forages.
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1 - university of wyoming, plant sciences, college of agriculture, university of wyoming, laramie, wyoming, 82070, usa
2 - university of wyoming, molecular biology
3 - university of wyoming, plant sciences
Keywords:
alfalfa
spider silk
transgenic
MaSp 1
F1 progeny.
Presentation Type: Plant Biology Abstract
Session: P
Location: Exhibit Hall (Northeast, Southwest & Southeast)/Hilton
Date: Sunday, July 8th, 2007
Time: 8:00 AM
Number: P45032
Abstract ID:2683 |
