Artificial egg stalks made of a recombinantly produced lacewing silk protein

Abstract

Rigid threads: Lacewings protect their eggs from predators by laying them on small stalks (see picture). The stalks have good mechanical properties and, unlike most other silks, a cross β structure. An artificial egg stalk was produced using a designed recombinant variant of a sequenced lacewing egg stalk protein, and it attained 90 % of the tensile strength of a natural egg stalk.