| Nephilidae |
| Nephila |
| Important mechanical properties : |
| 1) | High tensile strength |
| 2) | High extensibility |
| 3) | High capability of water uptake |
| 4) | Biodegradability |
| Bioengineering : |
| Method I : | |
| 1) | Insert the cloned silk gene into bacteria, E. coli |
| 2) | Bacteria synthesizes the desired protein |
| 3) | Culture the bacteria for the cloned colony that would produce the synthetic polymer by way of protein synthesis |
| Method II : | |
| 1) | Introduce silk gene in the mammary gland of goats (silk gene : a form of Recombinant DNA) |
| 2) | Clone such goats with silk gene added to their genome. These animals will form the foundation of a herd sharing identical genome. It is supposed that per litre of milk will have 2-15 gms of spider silk. |
| 3) | Silk extraction will involve conventional dairy processes, using milking machines. |
| 4) | Skim the milk for cream and whey. Once the protein fat separated by 50% filteration process, the milk will be pure enough to produce a film containing silk. |
| Application of Nephila silk : |
| 1) | Used for fishing lures, traps and nets. |
| 2) | Used as crosshairs in optical targeting devices such as guns and telescopes. |
| 3) | Though successful in a small scale, spider silk synthesis if ever becomes industrially viable is thought to replace Kevlar and be used to make diverse range of items such as — |
| l | Bulletproof clothing |
| l | Wear resistant light weight clothing |
| l | Ropes, nets, seat belts, parachutes |
| l | Rustfree panels on motor vehicles or boats |
| l | Biodegradable bottles |
| l | Bandages, surgical thread |
| l | Artifical tendons or ligaments, support for weak blood vessels |