RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Transient Expression of a Major Ampullate Spidroin 1 Gene Fragment from Euprosthenops sp. in Mammalian Cells JF Cancer Genomics - Proteomics JO Cancer Genomics Proteomics FD International Institute of Anticancer Research SP 83 OP 87 VO 3 IS 2 A1 STEFAN GRIP A1 ANNA RISING A1 HELENA NIMMERVOLL A1 ERICA STORCKENFELDT A1 SIMON J. MCQUEEN-MASON A1 NATALIA POUCHKINA-STANTCHEVA A1 FRITZ VOLLRATH A1 WILHELM ENGSTRÖM A1 ARMANDO FERNANDEZ-ARIAS YR 2006 UL http://cgp.iiarjournals.org/content/3/2/83.abstract AB Spider silk possesses extraordinary and unsurpassed mechanical properties and several attempts have been made to artificially produce spider silk in order to manufacture strong and light engineering composites. In the field of oncology, recombinant spider silk has the potential to be used as a biomaterial for bone replacement after tumour surgery. In this study, a 636-base pair gene fragment, coding for a part of major ampullate spidroin 1 from the African spider, Euprosthenops sp., was cloned into the expression vector pSecTag2/Hygro A, designed for the production of protein in mammalian cells. COS-1 cells were subsequently transfected with the recombinant plasmids and transient expression of low amounts of the corresponding silk protein fragment was obtained. The expressed fragment contained repetitive sequences associated with intrinsic biomechanical properties and has potential as a starting material for designed biopolymers.