Geneticists cannot be stopped: why did scientists cross a spider and a goat, and what came of it

Genetic engineers do not cease to amaze the world with their achievements: the press regularly reports about the appearance of new species of living things that have changed DNA. One of them is about unusual goats that introduced spider genes. For what scientists did this and what they ended up with, we will tell in our review.

Utah, in the western United States, houses the original goat farm. The white goats living here are no different in appearance from their counterparts, but their milk is completely unusual. After the Golden Spider Spider gene was inoculated with these goats, their milk began to contain valuable protein, the so-called spider silk.

Spider thread is a very valuable product due to its special elasticity, strength and lightness. It is widely used in medicine, in the production of durable and flexible materials and many other valuable products. The needs for spider webs are growing, and its limited production is not able to satisfy all needs. It turned out that getting spider web silk directly from the spiders themselves is a rather laborious and ineffective activity. The fact is that the desired species of spiders is very aggressive towards their own kind, which can often be observed among arachnids, so it was impossible to breed spiders on farms. Then an incredible thought occurred to geneticists: to plant the spider gene in goats and get valuable protein from their milk.

When the company began its experiments a few years ago, they managed to get only three kids with altered genes. Of the seven genetically modified kids, only three animals eventually became owners of the Golden Spider genes. Today, about 150 spider goats live on an unusual farm, the number of which is constantly increasing. Experiments have shown that from their milk you can really get a precious cobweb thread. With the help of these goats, scientists hope to make a breakthrough in the field of obtaining unique material and have already patented all their discoveries.