Mussel adhesion – essential footwork

Robust adhesion to wet, salt-encrusted, corroded and slimy surfaces has been an essential adaptation in the life histories of sessile marine organisms for hundreds of millions of years, but it remains a major impasse for technology. Mussel adhesion has served as one of many model systems providing a fundamental understanding of what is required for attachment to wet surfaces. Most polymer engineers have focused on the use of 3,4-dihydroxyphenyl-l-alanine (Dopa), a peculiar but abundant catecholic amino acid in mussel adhesive proteins. The premise of this Review is that although Dopa does have the potential for diverse cohesive and adhesive interactions, these will be difficult to achieve in synthetic homologs…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Award: DMR 1121053
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Award: R01 DE 018468