Advances in Genetic Engineering of Spider Silk Proteins

Spider silk is a kind of natural protein fiber.The special sequence structure of spider silk protein enables the silk to have unique physical,chemical and mechanical properties,super-contraction nature,and excellent biological performance.With exploration of the application value of spider silk as various functional materials,the research on genetic engineering of spider silk protein has been going deeper and deeper.This article briefly introduces the performance of spider silk,focuses on reviewing the researches on sequence basic structure and exogenous expression of spider silk protein,and summarizes advances in expression of recombinant spider silk protein in various hosts(including bacterium,yeast,plant,mammalian cells and silkworm).It is anticipated that to obtain spider silk protein via genetic engineering and to realize large scale production of it can receive more in-depth studies and more attentions.