Meeting Abstract
Mussels (Mytilus spp.) possess the remarkable ability to adhere to a wide variety of surfaces in one of the most dynamic environments on the planet. To accomplish this, mussels produce a biological glue that is made up of several identified proteins which they mix together, deposit on a surface, and allow to cure within the environment. Even more impressive is that mussels accomplish this task while immersed in seawater, a medium which is thought to compete with traditional adhesion mechanisms of epoxies. Recently, researchers have begun to explore the role that the environment plays in the determination of attachment strength of mussel adhesive, with the goal of both emulating the processes involved and explaining seasonal trends in weakened attachment that have been reported in coastal habitats and aquaculture operations. In this study we had mussels from three different species adhere to materials with vastly different surface characteristics in the presence of seawater with ecologically relevant oxygen concentrations, CO2 partial pressures (pCO2), and hydrogen ion concentrations (pH). We then allowed mussels to live in these conditions for up to 3 months, testing the material strength of adhesive as a function of the exposure time of the animal. With this methodology we aimed to separate any direct effect that seawater conditions have on adhesive function from any indirect effects on the material that results from changes in an organism’s physiology.
