Why Mussels Can Stick to Anything  14 August 2006 (All day)
Mussels can glom onto just about any surface--even Teflon.
What’s more, the glues they use adhere in water, making them
ideal candidates for biomedical applications such as suturing
skin and setting broken bones. A new study sheds light on the
bivalves' sticky secret, identifying a key adhesive compound.
Researchers had long speculated that an amino acid called DOPA,
found in high concentrations in mussel proteins, was responsible
for the special adhesive qualities of mussel glue. But they
lacked proof that DOPA had the right kind of chemistry to adhere
to other materials.  To investigate, Phil Messersmith, a
biomedical engineer at Northwestern University in Evanston,
Illinois, and colleagues tethered a single molecule of DOPA to
the tip of an atomic force microscope. They then touched the tip
to a titanium dioxide surface and measured the force needed to
pull the DOPA off the surface. It took a remarkable 800
piconewtons to do the trick, almost 4