Meeting Abstract
In hydrodynamically turbulent marine environments, the settlement and survival of marine organisms depend on a strong attachment to the ocean floor. Marine mussels achieve this by anchoring themselves to rocks with stretchy, collagen-like threads (called byssal threads) that are tipped with a protein adhesive. Synthesized in seawater and curing over the course of days, the glue that byssal threads use is a bio-mechanical marvel that has inspired the synthesis of several novel synthetic glues due to its unique ability to adhere to a variety of conventionally challenging surfaces (e.g. glass, plastics, wood, and Teflon), all while in the presence of excess water, salts, and polar organic molecules. However, despite the adhesives notoriety, little is known about how the glue matures or “cures” in natural environments and under what seawater conditions this process is either accelerated or retarded – information that could be ecologically and economically relevant as seawater conditions change as a result of ocean acidification, seasonal trends in water chemistry, and biological activity. Here we describe laboratory experiments wherein mussels were sampled over the course of a year and made byssal attachments within the laboratory. Byssus glue then ‘cured’ in a range of seawater pH conditions for up to three weeks and were pulled to failure using a materials testing machine. Results from these assays provide insights into the role that seawater pH plays as a molecular trigger in protein assembly, in lieu of seasonal trends in mussel physiology that have been observed in field surveys and anecdotally by mussel aquaculture farmers.
