Why Cockroach Milk Is Worth More Than Diamonds

What the film says

1. A 2016 IUCrJ paper (Banerjee, Coussens, ... Stay, Chavas, Ramaswamy) reported the atomic-resolution (1.2 Å) X-ray structure of milk-protein crystals grown in the midgut of Diploptera punctata embryos.

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2. Ramaswamy and Banerjee were at the Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine in Bangalore; Coussens and Stay at the University of Iowa.

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3. The mother secretes milk (Lili-Mip) to embryos in her brood sac; it supplies all essential amino acids and complete nutrients (protein, carbohydrate, lipid).

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4. The largest cockroach farm, near Xichang, Sichuan, breeds six billion cockroaches a year and is run by Good Doctor Pharmaceutical.

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5. Researchers are working to produce the cockroach milk crystal protein in yeast.

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