National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences

Nitto Boseki Co., Ltd.

Toshio Kanda

Keiro Uchino

Isao Kobayashi

Toshiki Tamura

Katsuhiro Katayama

Hideki Sezutsu

Tatsuya Ohashi

Iwao Kiyokawa

Katsura Kojima

Hisae Arai

Noriyuki Funahashi

The present inventors produced transgenic silkworms which comprise a promoter of a DNA encoding a protein specifically expressed in the silk gland and a DNA encoding a recombinant antibody whose expression is regulated directly or indirectly by the promoter, and which secrete the recombinant antibody into the silk gland. The recombinant antibodies produced from the silk gland of the transgenic silkworms were confirmed to be active.

Antibody-producing transgenic silkworms and methods for producing the same

Transgenic silkworms comprising GFP whose expression is regulated by the sericin gene promoter were produced. Observation of the silk glands of the last instar larvae of the silkworms showed fluorescence only in the middle silk glands. GFP was secreted from middle silkgland cells from around the spinning stage, indicating that GFP moved into the gland lumen. Finally, GFP was spun into cocoon filaments, and cocoons containing large amounts of GFP were produced. Thus, by using the promoter region of the sericin gene, recombinant proteins can be produced in the middle silk glands. Furthermore, the recombinant proteins produced in the middle silk glands were readily secreted into the lumen of the middle silk glands.

Methods for producing proteins using silkworm middle silk gland-specific gene expression system

Growing community of inventors

Tsukuba, Japan

Toshio Kanda