This book is a snapshot of the current state of the art of research and development on the properties and characteristics of silk and their use in medicine and industry. The field encompasses backyard silk production from ancient time to industrial methods in the modern era and includes an example of efforts to maintain silk production on Madagascar. Once revered as worth its weight in gold, silk has captured the imagination from its mythical origins onwards. The latest methods in molecular biology have opened new descriptions of the underlying properties of silk. Advances in technological innovation have created silk production by microbes as the latest breakthrough in the saga of silk research and development. The application of silk to biomaterials is now very active on the basis of excellent properties of silks including recombinant silks for biomaterials and the accumulated structural information.

While silk derived from silkworm has been of economic importance for centuries, more recently silkworm has been found to have utility in biomedicine. This has attracted attention for expressing eukaryotic recombinant proteins, which require post-translational modifications. In 1985 Dr. Susumu Maeda demonstrated that silkworm larvae could produce a functional human-interferon. Since then various techniques have been developed to express recombinant proteins in silkworm. With the development of the Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) bacmid system, which is capable of replicating in both Escherichia coli and Bombyx mori derived cell lines or silkworm, silkworm larvae or pupae have been used for the expression system for recombinant protein production. This method has the advantage of a bacmid, in that it can be easily prepared for sufficient bacmid DNA for subsequent expression in silkworm. It is potentially a big breakthrough in production of recombinant eukaryotic proteins and viruses, which will be a powerful tool in a new proteome era. This volume contributes to the advancement of our knowledge in the subject, for example gene expression systems and silkworm research, and focuses on silkworm biofactories for the recombinant protein production and commercial applications of proteins.

Biotechnology has impacted the textiles industry through the development of more efficient and environmentally friendly manufacturing processes, as well as enabling the design of improved textile materials. This book will provide a thorough overview of current and future focuses of biotechnology in the fibre and textile industry. Part one of the book opens with a review of technologies involved in textile biotechnology. Chapters explore the design and engineering of novel enzymes for textile applications and developments in processes and equipment for enzymatic textile treatments. Part two investigates the modification of particular fibres through the use of biotechnology. Key topics include the treatment of wool and silk fibres and the enzymatic treatment versus conventional processing of cotton.With expert contributions from leaders in their fields, Advances in textile biotechnology is a comprehensive guide for those in the textile and fibre industry, as well as experts in the biology, chemical and environmental engineering industries. - Provides a thorough overview of current and future focuses of biotechnology in the fibre and textile industry - Explores production of enzymes, searching for efficient production systems and also documents the advantages and limitations associated with the process - Reviews the debate surrounding enzymatic treatment versus conventional processing of cotton along with engineering of plants for improved fibre qualities

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license.This book presents results relevant in the manufacturing research field, that are mainly aimed at closing the gap between the academic investigation and the industrial application, in collaboration with manufacturing companies. Several hardware and software prototypes represent the key outcome of the scientific contributions that can be grouped into five main areas, representing different perspectives of the factory domain:1) Evolutionary and reconfigurable factories to cope with dynamic production contexts characterized by evolving demand and technologies, products and processes.2) Factories for sustainable production, asking for energy efficiency, low environmental impact products and processes, new de-production logics, sustainable logistics.3) Factories for the People who need new kinds of interactions between production processes, machines, and human beings to offer a more comfortable and stimulating working environment.4) Factories for customized products that will be more and more tailored to the final user’s needs and sold at cost-effective prices.5) High performance factories to yield the due production while minimizing the inefficiencies caused by failures, management problems, maintenance.This books is primarily targeted to academic researchers and industrial practitioners in the manufacturing domain.

Silk has a long history in South Asia, more than 4,000 years. Today sericulture and silk production provide a livelihood to millions of people, not least tribal women. Here India dominates, being the second largest producer of silk in the world after China. The history of mulberry silk is well known and much has been written on its cultivation and production, especially by and for specialists. The scope and purpose of this volume is quite different, however. Aimed at a broader readership, it presents the diversity and complexity of sericulture and silk production across South Asia and Myanmar within a single, richly illustrated book. Significantly, it explores new directions in sericulture, and suggests alternatives to mulberry silk, which is not without environmental and ethical issues. Special attention is paid to Eri silk, similar to soft cotton and regarded as the most world?s comfortable textile. The result is a fascinating exploration of the world of silk in South Asia, a volume that will interest and intrigue silk specialists and general readers alike.

Spiders, objects of eternal human fascination, are found in many places: on the ground, in the air, and even under water. Leslie Brunetta and Catherine Craig have teamed up to produce a substantive yet entertaining book for anyone who has ever wondered, as a spider rappelled out of reach on a line of silk, “How do they do that?” The orb web, that iconic wheel-shaped web most of us associate with spiders, contains at least four different silk proteins, each performing a different function and all meshing together to create a fly-catching machine that has amazed and inspired humans through the ages. Brunetta and Craig tell the intriguing story of how spiders evolved over 400 million years to add new silks and new uses for silk to their survival “toolkit” and, in the telling, take readers far beyond the orb. The authors describe the trials and triumphs of spiders as they use silk to negotiate an ever-changing environment, and they show how natural selection acts at the genetic level and as individuals struggle for survival.

Considering silk from spiders, midges, and aquatic insects as well as from silk worms, the 29 papers discuss recent research in the biology, genetics, synthesis, characterization, properties, modeling, processing, and applications. Addressed to biotechnologists, materials scientists, and other professionals. Reproduced from typescripts. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR