Stuck on mussel adhesion

Mussels can strongly adhere to various surfaces underwater, even in high salinity. Over the past 40 years, scientists discovered mussels achieve this adhesion by secreting a multitude of proteins and by manipulating their environment.

Mears et al. consolidated current understanding of underwater adhesion in mussels and other marine organisms. The most widely accepted hypothesis of mussel adhesion credits the amino acid 3,4-dihydroxyphenolamine, or DOPA, as the primary molecule driving molecular adhesion. However, recent work has demonstrated other organisms can perform substantial adhesion without DOPA. The authors explained the significance of these findings.

“While DOPA is an important part of the mussel’s armory, lately there have been more investigations into the true complexity of bioadhesives,” said author Laura Mears. “It seemed to be a good moment to take a step back from pinpointing just one functionality, DOPA, as the main cause.”

In addition to naming important molecular players beyond DOPA, they described the various fundamental interactions involved in the adhesion process as well as the breadth of marine organisms that adhere underwater.

In the hope of inspiring others to seek out answers, the authors also presented open questions about mussel adhesion. They believe using coupled methodologies to study how different molecules and environmental conditions interact will lead to new breakthroughs.

Learning more about adhesion in mussels and other marine organisms could help develop new biomimetic adhesives, which are gaining popularity. These mussel-inspired materials could have biomedical applications, such as tissue gluing. A better understanding of mussel adhesion may also be used to prevent fouling of barnacles and other creatures on ships, a common problem in international shipping.

Source: “Mussel adhesion: A fundamental perspective on factors governing strong underwater adhesion,” by Laura L. E. Mears, Julia Appenroth, Hui Yuan, Alper T. Celebi, Pierluigi Bilotto, Alexander Michael Imre, Bruno Zappone, Rongxin Su, and Markus Valtiner, Biointerphases (2022). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1116/6.0002051 .