Marine organisms process and deliver many of their underwater coatings and adhesives as complex fluids. In marine mussels, one such fluid, secreted during the formation of adhesive plaques, consists of a concentrated colloidal suspension of a mussel foot protein (mfp) known as Mfp-3S. Results of this study suggest that Mfp-3S becomes a complex fluid by a liquid-liquid phase separation from equilibrium solution at a pH and ionic strength reminiscent of conditions created by the mussel foot during plaque formation. The pH dependence of phase separation and its sensitivity indicate that inter/intra-molecular electrostatic interactions are partially responsible for driving the phase separation. Hydrophobic interactions between the nonpolar Mfp-3S proteins provide another important driving force for coacervation. As complex coacervation typically results from charge-charge interactions between polyanions and polycations, Mfp-3S is thus unique in being the only known protein that coacervates with itself. The Mfp-3S coacervate was shown to have an effective interfacial energy of ≤ 1 mJ/m2 which explains its tendency to spread over or engulf most surfaces. Of particular interest to biomedical applications is the extremely high adsorption capacity of coacervated Mfp-3S on hydroxyapatite.

Mussel (Mytilus californianus) adhesion to marine surfaces involves an intricate and adaptive synergy of molecules and spatio-temporal processes. Although the molecules, such as mussel foot proteins (mfps), are well characterized, deposition details remain vague and speculative. Developing methods for the precise surveillance of conditions that apply during mfp deposition would aid both in understanding mussel adhesion and translating this adhesion into useful technologies. To probe the interfacial pH at which mussels buffer the local environment during mfp deposition, a lipid bilayer with tethered pH-sensitive fluorochromes was assembled on mica. The interfacial pH during foot contact with modified mica ranged from 2.2−3.3, which is well below the seawater pH of ~8. The acidic pH serves multiple functions: it limits mfp-Dopa oxidation, thereby enabling the catecholic functionalities to adsorb to surface oxides by H-bonding and metal ion coordination, and provides a solubility switch for mfps, most of which aggregate at pH ≥ 7-8.

The 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (Dopa)-containing proteins of marine mussels provide attractive design paradigms for engineering synthetic polymers that can serve as high performance wet adhesives and coatings. Although the role of Dopa in promoting adhesion between mussels and various substrates has been carefully studied, the context by which Dopa mediates a bridging or nonbridging macromolecular adhesion to surfaces is not understood. The distinction is an important one both for a mechanistic appreciation of bioadhesion and for an intelligent translation of bioadhesive concepts to engineered systems. On the basis of mussel foot protein-5 (Mfp-5; length 75 res), we designed three short, simplified peptides (15–17 res) and one relatively long peptide (30 res) into which Dopa was enzymatically incorporated. Peptide adhesion was tested using a surface forces apparatus. Our results show that the short peptides are capable of weak bridging adhesion between two mica surfaces, but this adhesion contrasts with that of full length Mfp-5, in that (1) while still dependent on Dopa, electrostatic contributions are much more prominent, and (2) whereas Dopa surface density remains similar in both, peptide adhesion is an order of magnitude weaker (adhesion energy Ead ∼ −0.5 mJ/m2) than full length Mfp-5 adhesion. Between two mica surfaces, the magnitude of bridging adhesion was approximately doubled (Ead ∼ −1 mJ/m2) upon doubling the peptide length. Notably, the short peptides mediate much stronger adhesion (Ead ∼ −3.0 mJ/m2) between mica and gold surfaces, indicating that a long chain length is less important when different interactions are involved on each of the two surfaces.

Paneth cells residing at the base of the small intestinal crypts contribute to the mucosal intestinal first line defense by secreting granules filled with antimicrobial polypeptides including lysozyme. These cells derive from the columnar intestinal stem cell located at position 0 and the transit amplifying cell located at position ؉4 in the crypts. We have previously shown that Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (ST), a leading cause of gastrointestinal infections in humans, effects an overall reduction of lysozyme in the small intestine. To extend this work, we examined small-intestinal tissue sections at various time points after ST infection to quantify and localize expression of lysozyme and assess Paneth cell abundance, apoptosis, and the expression of Paneth cell differentiation markers. In response to infection with ST, the intestinal Paneth cell-specific lysozyme content, the number of lysozyme-positive Paneth cells, and the number of granules per Paneth cell decreased. However, this was accompanied by increases in the total number of Paneth cells and the frequency of mitotic events in crypts, by increased staining for the proliferation marker PCNA, primarily at the crypt side walls where the transit amplifying cell resides and not at the crypt base, and by apoptotic events in villi. Furthermore, we found a time-dependent upregulation of first ␤-catenin, followed by EphB3, and lastly Sox9 in response to ST, which was not observed after infection with a Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 mutant deficient in type III secretion. Our data strongly suggest that, in response to ST infection, a Paneth cell differentiation program is initiated that leads to an expansion of the Paneth cell population and that the transit amplifying cell is likely the main progenitor responder. Infection-induced expansion of the Paneth cell population may represent an acute intestinal inflammatory response similar to neutrophilia in systemic infection. Innate mucosal immunity represents the first line of defense against infection by preventing microbes from crossing the gut lining and invading the bloodstream. Paneth cells, located at the base of small intestinal crypts, contribute to the mucosal defense mechanism in the small intestine through the secretion of granules filled with antimicrobial (poly)peptides such as lysozyme, phospholipase A2, defensins (called cryptdins in mice), and RegIII␥ (12,42,44,51). Lysozyme is a bimodal polypeptide of approximately 14 kDa that hydrolyzes peptidoglycan (20) and also directly disrupts membranes, similar to antimicrobial peptides (29). In mice, two lysozyme genes are transcribed (27): one in myeloid cells (M lysozyme) and one in epithelial cells, in particular Paneth cells (P lysozyme). These two lysozymes share 92% homology but differ in their net charge with P lysozyme being more positively charged than M lysozyme (37).In the small intestine, the intestinal stem cell located in the crypts gives rise to Paneth cells, as well as enterocytes, goblet cells, and enteroendocrine cells (55...

Sessile marine mussels must “dry” underwater surfaces before adhering to them. Synthetic adhesives have yet to overcome this fundamental challenge. Previous studies of bio-inspired adhesion have largely been performed under applied compressive forces but these are poor predictors of an adhesive’s ability to spontaneously penetrate surface hydration layers. In a force-free approach to measuring molecular-level interaction via the surface water diffusivity, different mussel foot proteins were found to have differential abilities to evict hydration layers from the surfaces—a necessary step for adsorption and adhesion. It was anticipated that Dopa would mediate dehydration given its efficacy forbio-inspired wet adhesion. Instead, hydrophobic side-chains are found to be a critical component in bringing about protein-surface intimacy. This is the first direct measurement of interfacial water dynamics during force-free adsorptive interactions at solid surfaces, and offers guidance for engineering wet adhesives and coatings.