TOKYO, Sept.26 — A farm in Gunma Prefecture will breed silkworms which are genetically engineered using jellyfish genes starting on Oct. 5 to create green fluorescent silk threads, the Gunma Prefectural Government announced on Sept. 25.
It is the first case worldwide in which transgenic silkworms will be raised in an ordinary silkworm farm instead of in closed systems such as laboratories. Experimental breeding is also under way to create silkworms that can spin orange or blue glowing silk, in a bid to create a new industry in the prefecture.
The agriculture minister and the environment minister approved the application for the breeding of genetically modified silkworms in an open system based on the Cartagena Act, the law that regulates the use of living modified organisms. The Gunma Sericultural Technology Center will raise 120,000 genetically modified silkworms hatched from eggs for 13 days and deliver them to a local farm.
Their cocoons will be turned into raw silk at a silk mill in Nagano Prefecture. Hosoo, a Kyoto-based manufacturer and seller of kimono accessories and interior goods, will purchase all of them to produce interior materials.
National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, which has been conducting research on transgenic silkworms jointly with Gunma Prefecture, said they will supervise the farm so that the silkworms will be raised in a properly managed environment. Although they are allowed to be kept in an open system, the institutions advise the farm to apply a net on the opening of the facility.
“We can now create silk threads with unprecedented nature on a commercial basis,” said a prefectural government official. “We hope to see new developments in the high value-added silk industry.”