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Biomaterials

Redox and adhesion on the rocks

Man-made adhesives cannot match the ability of a marine mussel to affix itself to a wet rock. New insights help to describe the protein-surface bonding central to this feat of biological materials engineering.

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Figure 1: Mussels making glue with dopa proteins.

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Correspondence to Jonathan J Wilker.

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Wilker, J. Redox and adhesion on the rocks. Nat Chem Biol 7, 579–580 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.639

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