Spiders and My Shampoo

When you think spiderweb, what do you picture? A gossamer web, a fragile weave sparkling with dewdrops? A spiderweb is actually an extremely tough, stretchy fiber made of a complex crystalline structure. Marvel Comics wasn't so far off the mark when they showed Spiderman swinging from building to building on strands of web.

My interest in spiders today began with finding an awesome shampoo. I'd finally discovered the brand that promised the shiny, gorgeous hair I've always wanted, so I began to read the fine print and braced for the bad news that it wasn't cruelty free. I scanned the ingredients- there were the words I was dreading- silk proteins. As you probably know, the larva used to produce silk are boiled alive, so I prefer not to buy silk. But what, exactly, were silk proteins? It was darn good shampoo, so I did some research.

Turns out the silk proteins used in cosmetics (like my nifty shampoo) come from spiders, not silk worms! This was momentary good news, because while silk worms get boiled alive to produce their silk, spiders spin their silk, and definitely don't die in the process.

Pretty, shiny hair here we come!

Nope. Spiders aren't social creatures- if they're kept in large groups they eat each other (PETA and Wikipedia agree on this). The golden orb spider is commonly used to produce the spider silk used in high-end consumer textiles. I was unable to determine the species used in cosmetic production.

Here's where the real-life science fiction comes in: In 2000 a Canadian company called Nexus came up with the ingenious bioengineering idea of injecting golden orb spider DNA into goat eggs. The female of these transgenic (genetically modified) goats lactated milk laden with spider silk proteins. I'm not kidding. You can read about their work on Wikipedia and in an article from the New York Times archived on animalvoices.com. Now, the folks at Nexus were less interested in shampoo than I am. They wanted to extract the proteins from the milk and spin super strong fibers (trademarked "BioSteel") for use as fishing line, tennis racket string, and textiles. PETA and the New York Times article claim the military are interested in the resulting fibers to create bullet proof vests and body armor.

Nexus had some technological problems with their fiber production that they couldn't overcome. First, they were only able to transmit one of up to seven spider silk proteins to the lactating goats. Second, the process of spinning the proteins into fibers didn't work. Nexus tried to imitate the spider squeezing out fibers through its spinneret by squirting the heavily processed goat milk through tiny holes to create strands that were then stretched on a spindle. The description of the apparatus in the New York Times article is an SF dream, but the machinery was not able to convert the milk into thread in a commercially viable manner.

The cool part about this failed attempt was the idea that started it. Nexus CEO/president and bioengineer Jeffrey Turner says:

"The mammary gland is a perfect natural factory for the synthesizing and production of proteins."

What other kinds of proteins could be made from transgenic modification? What would their applications be? How does inexpensive, life-saving medication, sound? Turner originally envisioned his "udder factory outlet" as a way to cheaply produce medication. For financial and practical reasons (such as getting approval from the F.D.A.), he began his experiments producing strong silk fiber, instead.

And what about the animals in all this transgenic tinkering? New York Times journalist, Lawrence Osborne, makes it clear that Turner and his staff had a genuine love and respect for the goats they raised. No harm came to the goats- they were living the good life in the ample pasture lands of Canada. Of course the golden orb spiders didn't make out nearly so well. The spiders were killed and crushed to obtain their DNA for injection. I wouldn't buy silk made using this process for a pretty scarf or shiny hair, but I could certainly come to terms with it should it produce inexpensive, life-saving medicine.

Now for the big question- my shampoo! Will I walk the streets of Brooklyn with hair that doesn't bounce? Well, until the day that huge bioengineered spiders produce silk proteins (using one large genetically engineered "super-spider" is one solution to the spider cannibalism silk production problem), I'll not buy the shampoo, and will search for a plant-based alternative.