Production and properties of cross-linked recombinant pro-resilin: an insect rubber-like biomaterial

The design and synthesis of novel biomolecular materials, based on mimicking the properties of molecules found in nature, is providing materials with unusual properties. Resilin serves as an energy storage material in insects and facilitates flight, jumping (in fleas, froghoppers etc) and sound production (cicadas, etc). Resilin is initially produced as a soluble protein and in its mature form is crosslinked through formation of dityrosine units into a very large insoluble polymer. In the present study, we have synthesized a recombinant form of resilin that can be photochemically cross-linked into a resilient, rubber-like biomaterial that may be suitable for spinal disc implants. This material is almost perfectly elastic and its fatigue lifetime in insects must be >500 million cycles.