The University of Bayreuth (Germany) has, for the first time in the world, used CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology to create a spider that spins red fluorescent silk. In the DNA of a common house spider, researchers inserted a gene for a glowing protein, so the web began to glow red under ultraviolet light. For the first time, they were able to directly modify the properties of spider silk at the level of the spider’s gene.
Spider web silk is unique: it is lightweight, very elastic, surprisingly strong, and fully biocompatible. Researchers’ dream is to obtain synthetic spider silk for medicine, complex mechanisms, and lightweight yet strong materials. Experiments have already been conducted: Stella McCartney sewed a dress from spider silk, The North Face released a jacket, and Japanese company Spiber makes fabrics based on it—currently in small batches, but this is only the beginning.
The spider still found a way to catch people in its web—and we ourselves seem happy to wear it!
