Hello Conch-L,
Barbara Jouvernaux is currently unable to post to Conch-L, but has
requested that I post this for her:


I read Nora's question about mussel glue, and I am unable to post mail
to Conch-L at present, nor can I derive her
personal email address from the message.
Perhaps you would be so kind as to post this, which comes from a New
Zealand Education Department magazine
about 6 months ago.

Ever tried pulling mussels from the rock they're clinging to? Unless you
come equipped with a good knife, mussels put
up quite a fight before they let themselves be collected for dinner.
Mussels produce one of the strongest glues found in nature. Even the
tiniest amount of the sticky stuff, which they
excrete from a gland in their foot, is enough for them to hold on in the
most unforgivingly rough seas. The durable
adhesive has intrigued chemists throughout the world for some time and
now a team of Auckland University scientists
has found that stickability makes up a big part of success.
They persisted, and after some time finally managed to make a copy of
the mussel glue in the lab. This replica could
someday replace the surgeon's needle and thread as it looks strong
enought to hold wounds together better than
stitches - a bit like invisible sticking plaster.
Harvesting the product in it's natural form is not a viable option, as
even a full dinner plate of mussels produces less
than a milligram of glue.
The leader of the Marsden-funded project, Dr Carol Taylor, says the
chemistry of the sticky mussel protein is relatively
simple, but the challenge was to recreate the natural product from
scratch. One particular amino acid is so rare it has
never been made before.
But one of Taylor's students, Claudette Weir, managed to create a recipe
which has since proven useful for cooking
up similar compounds.
Taylor says they can now make whole batches of the glue, which could
have immense potential in medicine.

Maybe in a few years we will all be "glued" back together after surgery,
instead of stiches - thanks to the humble
mussel.
Incredible!

Regards,
Barbara Jouvernaux