Sticky organisms create underwater biological adhesives driven by interactions between EGF- and GlcNAc- containing polysaccharides
Abstract Marine and terrestrial organisms often utilise EGF/EGF-like domains in wet adhesives, yet their roles in adhesion remain unclear. Here, we investigate the Barbatia virescense byssal system and uncover an oxidation-independent, reversible, and robust adhesion mechanism where EGF/EGF-like dom...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55476-4 |
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| author | Jimin Choi Seunghyeon Lee Yongjin Lee Dong Soo Hwang |
| author_facet | Jimin Choi Seunghyeon Lee Yongjin Lee Dong Soo Hwang |
| author_sort | Jimin Choi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Marine and terrestrial organisms often utilise EGF/EGF-like domains in wet adhesives, yet their roles in adhesion remain unclear. Here, we investigate the Barbatia virescense byssal system and uncover an oxidation-independent, reversible, and robust adhesion mechanism where EGF/EGF-like domain tandem repetitions in adhesive proteins bind robustly to GlcNAc-based biopolymer. EGF/EGF-like-domain-containing proteins demonstrate over three-fold superior underwater adhesion to chitosan compared to the well-known strongest wet-adhesive proteins, mefp-5, and suckerin, when adhering to mica in an surface forces apparatus-based measurement. Additionally, as the degree of acetylation of chitosan decreases from 20.0 to 5.34%, the underwater adhesion energy between mefp-2 and chitosan decreases from |Wad | ≈ 41.80 to 12.92 ± 0.40 mJm−2. This finding highlights the importance of GlcNAc over GlcN in binding with EGF to formulate effective underwater adhesives, expanding our understanding of underwater adhesion and supporting EGF’s functional role in biomedical wet adhesive interfaces, hydrogels, and chitosan applications. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-243a6c4ecb1946f9a9a69e30810b4ad4 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-243a6c4ecb1946f9a9a69e30810b4ad42025-01-05T12:40:06ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-01-0116111110.1038/s41467-024-55476-4Sticky organisms create underwater biological adhesives driven by interactions between EGF- and GlcNAc- containing polysaccharidesJimin Choi0Seunghyeon Lee1Yongjin Lee2Dong Soo Hwang3Division of Environmental Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and TechnologyDivision of Environmental Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and TechnologyInstitute of Chemical Process, Seoul National University, Gwanak-guDivision of Environmental Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and TechnologyAbstract Marine and terrestrial organisms often utilise EGF/EGF-like domains in wet adhesives, yet their roles in adhesion remain unclear. Here, we investigate the Barbatia virescense byssal system and uncover an oxidation-independent, reversible, and robust adhesion mechanism where EGF/EGF-like domain tandem repetitions in adhesive proteins bind robustly to GlcNAc-based biopolymer. EGF/EGF-like-domain-containing proteins demonstrate over three-fold superior underwater adhesion to chitosan compared to the well-known strongest wet-adhesive proteins, mefp-5, and suckerin, when adhering to mica in an surface forces apparatus-based measurement. Additionally, as the degree of acetylation of chitosan decreases from 20.0 to 5.34%, the underwater adhesion energy between mefp-2 and chitosan decreases from |Wad | ≈ 41.80 to 12.92 ± 0.40 mJm−2. This finding highlights the importance of GlcNAc over GlcN in binding with EGF to formulate effective underwater adhesives, expanding our understanding of underwater adhesion and supporting EGF’s functional role in biomedical wet adhesive interfaces, hydrogels, and chitosan applications.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55476-4 |
| spellingShingle | Jimin Choi Seunghyeon Lee Yongjin Lee Dong Soo Hwang Sticky organisms create underwater biological adhesives driven by interactions between EGF- and GlcNAc- containing polysaccharides Nature Communications |
| title | Sticky organisms create underwater biological adhesives driven by interactions between EGF- and GlcNAc- containing polysaccharides |
| title_full | Sticky organisms create underwater biological adhesives driven by interactions between EGF- and GlcNAc- containing polysaccharides |
| title_fullStr | Sticky organisms create underwater biological adhesives driven by interactions between EGF- and GlcNAc- containing polysaccharides |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sticky organisms create underwater biological adhesives driven by interactions between EGF- and GlcNAc- containing polysaccharides |
| title_short | Sticky organisms create underwater biological adhesives driven by interactions between EGF- and GlcNAc- containing polysaccharides |
| title_sort | sticky organisms create underwater biological adhesives driven by interactions between egf and glcnac containing polysaccharides |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55476-4 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jiminchoi stickyorganismscreateunderwaterbiologicaladhesivesdrivenbyinteractionsbetweenegfandglcnaccontainingpolysaccharides AT seunghyeonlee stickyorganismscreateunderwaterbiologicaladhesivesdrivenbyinteractionsbetweenegfandglcnaccontainingpolysaccharides AT yongjinlee stickyorganismscreateunderwaterbiologicaladhesivesdrivenbyinteractionsbetweenegfandglcnaccontainingpolysaccharides AT dongsoohwang stickyorganismscreateunderwaterbiologicaladhesivesdrivenbyinteractionsbetweenegfandglcnaccontainingpolysaccharides |