Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Created Spider Silk Hybrid: BAM 1
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, has successfully created a new recombinant spider silk hybrid, BAM 1, resulting from careful selective breeding. This hybrid is expected to be the most efficient spider silk production system to date, producing more usable silk per cocoon. The company’s technology utilizes enhanced silkworms to produce recombinant spider silk, with plans to transition into operations in the first and second quarters of 2024.
This enhanced silkworm hybrid, designated by the Company as BAM 1, is the result of careful selective breeding to maximize both robustness and the ratio of usable silk per cocoon
The development of this new hybrid involved the careful selective breeding of the Company’s Dragon SilkTM strain with numerous pure commercial production silkworm strains. Once the Company’s spider silk traits were bred and stabilized in the commercial strains, a series of cross-mattings were completed to test the results of various pairings. The finished cocoons were tested for cocoon size and silk yield. . Based upon its initial evaluation and a comparison of genetics, the Company believes that this new two-strain hybrid is the most efficient spider silk production system produced to date.
This new hybrid produces more useable silk per cocoon than previous hybrid pairings and is expected to make the transition from development into operations in the first and second quarters of 2024.
“This new hybrid will play a key role in our production trials. Our team is currently scaling up production of the two parental lines used to create this hybrid. One of those parental lines is already homozygous for the spider silk gene. The next milestone, which we believe is imminent, will be to establish homozygosity with the second parental strain,” said Founder and CEO, Kim Thompson. “The BAM 1 recombinant spider silk hybrid will be the central player in Kraig Labs’ spring production trials.”
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Established Homozygosity
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, announced that it has achieved homozygosity for the spider silk gene in both of the parental strains for its new production hybrid. Establishing homozygosity for the targeted gene in both parental strains means that the Company’s new BAM 1 hybrid production system is optimized for recombinant spider silk production.
The BAM 1 hybrid represents the Company’s latest innovation in the commercialization of recombinant spider silk technology. Achieving homozygosity for both BAM 1 parental strains is another significant milestone in the commercialization of recombinant spider silk. The reason homozygosity is important is because it results in higher levels of spider silk protein expression.
“Our team set an aggressive deadline for achieving homozygosity in the BAM 1 hybrid ahead of our spring production trials,” said Founder and CEO Kim Thompson. “Today, I am pleased to report they met that goal and that BAM 1 hybrids, which will be our primary production strain for the upcoming production season, is now optimized for recombinant spider silk expression. Our team continues to hit its marks, and I am looking forward to a very exciting year for Kraig Labs and the commercial launch of our revolutionary spider silk technology.”
