Silkworm Chicanery

By Joshua Davies

Last week saw the publication of what can only be described as a classic study in the world of gene manipulation. The question that’s been bothering scientists for years – is it possible to get silk worms to produce different coloured silk? – has finally been answered.

Takashi Sakudo and his team from the University of Tokyo discovered that the colour of a silk worm’s cocoon is related to genetics rather than habitat and diet. They discovered this by cutting out the “colour” gene and seeing what happened to the silk cocoon it produced. Unsurprisingly it became colourless.

"How amazing would it be to have a cow that produced ready-made milkshakes or chive flavoured cheese?"

Adding new colour genes into the silkworms has enabled the researchers to produce silk of a weak pink persuasion. They reckon that this could offer tremendous benefits for the silk industry. I would like to add at this point that this is their opinion, not mine. I believe, as probably do many others, that producing GM-dyed silk is not a top priority for silk company executives. (What is genetic modification?)

During a recent trip to a silk factory I had a brief discussion about colouring issues with the factory manager. He explained how the colouring of silk was a problem that had been solved approximately 5000 years ago, and to the best of his knowledge, was still solved – the solution being dye.

Silkworms are entirely reliant on humans for their existence. Image: Michael Cook.

click to enlarge

Perhaps Dr Sakudo should have read the back issues of Nature, because I’m sure if he looks far enough back there will be an article telling him that the search for a method to colour silk was over a long time ago.

There have, fortunately, been some more useful GM discoveries. Cows can nowadays (should the farmer see fit) be genetically modified to produce human insulin in their milk. This is expected to cut the cost of producing insulin by about a third. Potatoes have been grown containing a vaccine against hepatitis B and bananas with a vaccine against cholera. Rice plants have even been modified to more efficiently absorb and process sunlight and carbon dioxide, potentially helping in the battle against climate change.

Although science has come a long way in terms of gene manipulation there is still much to be done. How amazing would it be to have a cow that produced ready-made milkshakes or chive flavoured cheese? Unfortunately, these are projects that are unlikely to be high on the list for PhD students for years to come and strawberry flavoured milk won’t be appearing on doorsteps around the country within the next few months.

If you've got an opinion then, tell us about it in Science Mutters. Alternatively, see if you agree with this shower:

- Mutters - New invention hams it up
- Mutters - Celebrity science and nons(ci)ence
- Mutters - Are humans the brightest sparks in the Universe?

This research was published in the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences. Caterpillar image: Michael Cook

Return to the top »

Share this

Email this article to a friend

Caption Competition

Random Fact

Search

Most Read Articles

Silkworm Chicanery