Nature's strongest glue could be used as a medical adhesive | Science Blog
Hypothetically, C. crescentus's glue could be mass produced and used to coat surfaces for medical and engineering purposes.
"There are obvious applications since this adhesive works on wet surfaces," said IU Bloomington bacteriologist Yves Brun, who co-led the study with Brown University physicist Jay Tang. "One possibility would be as a biodegradable surgical adhesive."
C. crescentus affixes itself to rocks and the insides of water pipes via a long, slender stalk. At the end of the stalk is a holdfast dotted with polysaccharides (chains of sugar molecules). The scientists show in the PNAS paper that these sugars are the source of C. crescentus's tenacity. It is presumed these sugars are attached to holdfast proteins, but this has not yet been confirmed. One thing is certain -- the polysaccharides are sticky.
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