Team:Greatbay SCIE/Description

Description and Inspiration

Inspiration

While golden-brown butter sizzles on the juicy shellfish meat, the irresistible aroma and heat permeate the whole room…

Having grown up in Shenzhen, one of the most prosperous coastal cities in China, our team realized the importance of the fishing industry in this city. Earlier this year, two of our team members noticed the numerous black shells sticking on the banks of the river and surfaces of ships during a trip to Chang Zhou Island. Their curious exploration of these little creatures, known as barnacles, led them to realize the problems they cause to fishing industries--increase the mass of boats and result in higher shipping costs--and their extraordinary ability to stick on surfaces underwater.

Fishing industry in Shenzhen.

Months later, iGEM gave them the chance to solve this problem. They proposed that we should not only look at barnacles, but also other creatures that possess underwater adhesiveness. Their secrets lie within the proteins of their ‘feet’ (Figure1&2). Due to their impressive adhesive qualities, we decided to utilize them to their full extends using the principles of Synthetic Biology.

Figure 1. Barnacle cement(Nakano and Kamino 2015).
Figure 2. Adhesion in the marine mussel Mytilus californianus.(Lee, Messersmith et al. 2011)

Need for Adhesions

Unlike other glues, underwater adhesives maintain their stickiness in an aqueous environment. Thus, they can be applied in numerous fields.

Years ago, surgeons had to seal the vessels and tissues using only surgical threads carefully. This method, though solves the problem, may result in approximately 1L of blood gradually seeping through the cuts. Nowadays, adhesive proteins are used as supplements to cover these cuts and reduce leakage of blood after surgery. The ultimate problem came down to costs: most of the current-existing medical-used adhesives are too expensive, even unaffordable for some. During one of our Human Practices (see Integrated Human Practices) with an experienced cardiac surgeon, we discovered that the cheapest glue used still cost approximately 422 dollars per tube, and two tubes per surgery. Despite their high prices, some adhesives are still not strong enough to perform their jobs.

Figure 3. Potential applications of underwater adhesives.

In addition to our project’s promising future in the medical field, it will also have applications in marine environments. For example, maritime archaeologists can use our adhesives to repair artifacts underwater, avoiding the fragments to leave their marine environment. Other examples may include divers sticking their guideposts and marks underwater using our adhesives, which will not be washed away by sea currents.

Furthermore, adhesives will assist in bone fractures recovery in the fluid environments of the human body by sticking small pieces of bones together and preventing limbs from collapsing.

Our Project

To create a well-functioning adhesive, cohesion--the ability to maintain the shape of the material--and adhesion--the ability to stick to underwater surfaces--should cooperate. Our toolbox consists of several groups of biological parts from marine creatures (mussel and barnacles) and prokaryotes (E.coli MG1655 and Marine Archaea). These proteins will provide cohesion, adhesion, and other special qualities. We will then combine these proteins using principles of synthetic biology to create protein adhesives with high-performance and biocompatibility. Their potentials are limitless and can be applied to many fields.

Figure 4. Schematic showing the protein distribution of the barnacle cement (A )and mussel foot proteins (mfps) in the abyssal plaque of Mytilus (B) (modified from Lee, Messersmith et al. 2011).

References

[1] Liu, Jihua and Qian Shiqiang, Marine Bioadhesion and Defenses, January 2010.

[2]Lee, B. P., P. B. Messersmith, J. N. Israelachvili and J. H. Waite (2011). "Mussel-Inspired Adhesives and Coatings." Annu Rev Mater Res 41: 99-132.

[3]Nakano, M. and K. Kamino (2015). "Amyloid-like conformation and interaction for the self-assembly in barnacle underwater cement." Biochemistry 54(3): 826-835." Annu Rev Mater Res 41: 99-132.