Marine adhesion organism includes biological mucosa such as marine bacteria, diatom, etc. and large adhesion organism such as mussel, barnacle, etc. Researches and analysis on adhesion mechanism of adhesion organism show that adhesion marine bacteria in biological mucosa will secrete protein-containing Polysaccharide polymer (PAVE) which can adhere to all kinds of surfaces. The reason is that in these secretions there is 3, 4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) which is very viscous. Analysis on mussel, a large adhesion organism, shows that it is of super viscosity, which may result from its special molecular structure and the interaction way with substrates, and interstrand crosslink mediated by DOPA. DOPA plays an important role in this process. For marine bacteria and mussel, their viscosity is correlated with the generation and cross-linking of DOPA. On one hand, DOPA can enhance the viscosity of adhesion organism; on the other hand, it can improve the internal cohesion through cross-linking.
Mini-review: The role of redox in Dopa-mediated marine adhesion
