A PR I wish never happened...
Today's PR was not particularly promising for me. KBLB has a way of exposing their lack of planning as they announce a development that is both incomplete and long overdue.
When reading the PR, I was struck by how late in the game this development is. Why didn't they begin by inserting genes into a commercial strain? As KBLB was gearing up for scale and sale (four or five years ago?), did they not realize the need for commercial-grade silkworms? This development seems long overdue and can only be blamed on a lack of planning for commercial production.
I also noted that KBLB did not report details about the strength of the fiber that has been produced. Assuming they inter-bred a DS and mundane silkworm, the offspring may not produce DS-strength silk (depending on whether it is a dominant or recessive trait.) Also, 1/4 of the offspring from two of these hybrids will be homozygous mundane silkworms.
They may have simply inserted the genes into a commercial line. Again in that case, the new critters are far from homozygosticity.
All we know is they have a larger cocoon of unknown quality. Many details are left off the table that are vital to understanding what kind of advance this represents. Given KBLB's proclivity for failing to follow up on news, I have little confidence we will ever hear any more about these new strains, or any coherent explanation for why KBLB waited so long to tackle this issue in commercialization.
I wish the PR had never happened. My imagination is far more interesting than the dull reality exposed by this PR.
AI
Market Data 
Markets 
