Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Harrington MJ
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3087814 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Apr
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Harrington Matthew J MJ Masic Admir A Holten-Andersen Niels N Waite J Herbert JH Fratzl Peter P
Science (New York, N.Y.) 20100304 5975
The extensible byssal threads of marine mussels are shielded from abrasion in wave-swept habitats by an outer cuticle that is largely proteinaceous and approximately fivefold harder than the thread core. Threads from several species exhibit granular cuticles containing a protein that is rich in the catecholic amino acid 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (dopa) as well as inorganic ions, notably Fe3+. Granular cuticles exhibit a remarkable combination of high hardness and high extensibility. We explored ...[more]