Modification of protein synthesis machinery of silkworms for the production of silk proteins bearing unnatural amino acids

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24688008
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Applied entomology
• Research Institution: National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences
• Principal Investigator: TERAMOTO Hidetoshi 独立行政法人農業生物資源研究所, 新機能素材研究開発ユニット, 主任研究員 (60391562)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 昆虫 / 生体機能利用 / バイオテクノロジー / 非天然アミノ酸

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aimed at developing a method to incorporate unnatural amino acids bearing functional groups available for selective chemical reactions (click reactions) into silk proteins in order to provide high-performance silk-based materials to biomedical fields. We have succeeded in incorporating unnatural amino acids bearing azide groups (AzPhe) available for click reactions into silk proteins using genetic modification techniques of silkworms. We verified that azide groups incorporated into silk proteins can be selectively modified with functional molecules using click reactions.

Free Research Field

応用昆虫学