Scientists engineered bacteria to make stronger silk fibres using mussel protein fragments, boosting tensile strength by up to 345% |– timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Scientists have engineered bacteria to produce a silk-based protein using a surprising ingredient: a protein fragment from mussels. The approach combines an artificially designed silk protein with mussel foot protein 5, or Mfp5, which the researchers found could improve the strength and toughness of the resulting fibres. According to the study published in Nature Communications, titled ‘Bi-terminal fusion of intrinsically-disordered mussel foot protein fragments boosts mechanical strength for protein fibres’, attaching Mfp5 fragments to both ends of the protein encouraged interactions between protein molecules. The researchers also demonstrated that the engineered protein could be produced in a bacterial bioreactor at a substantially higher titre than some previously reported recombinant silk proteins.