據(jù)3月5日的《科學(xué)》雜志報(bào)道說(shuō),，研究人員通過(guò)對(duì)海洋貽貝進(jìn)行顯微鏡觀察后發(fā)現(xiàn),，使這些軟體動(dòng)物堅(jiān)固附著在巖石海岸上的強(qiáng)力細(xì)絲之中含有一種充滿金屬離子的蛋白質(zhì)外層被蓋，使得這些細(xì)絲同時(shí)具有超高的硬度和延展性,。 將來(lái),，人們對(duì)這種由金屬離子所結(jié)合在一起的生物性富含蛋白質(zhì)的腳手架的理解也許還可幫助科學(xué)家對(duì)工業(yè)材料的某些合意的性質(zhì)（如增加強(qiáng)度、自我修復(fù)及附著性等性質(zhì)）進(jìn)行微調(diào),。
Matthew Harrington及其同僚用Raman顯微鏡對(duì)貽貝的足絲（通常被稱為“胡須”）進(jìn)行了研究并發(fā)現(xiàn),，它們的外表皮中富含一種叫做dopa（多巴）的特別氨基酸，而dopa是一種強(qiáng)勁的粘合劑,。 他們還發(fā)現(xiàn),，該外表皮中的鐵離子特別多。 按照這些發(fā)現(xiàn),，研究人員建立了一個(gè)反映這種生物腳手架的模型,，并描述了其不同尋常的集束性分布。而dopa和鐵的致密交叉耦合使得足絲具有其硬度,，而交叉耦合較少的地區(qū)則使足絲具有其延展性,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Science March 4, 2010 DOI: 10.1126/science.1181044
Iron-Clad Fibers: A Metal-Based Biological Strategy for Hard Flexible Coatings
Matthew J. Harrington,1,*, Admir Masic,1, Niels Holten-Andersen,2,3 J. Herbert Waite,4 Peter Fratzl1
The extensible byssal threads of marine mussels are shielded from abrasion in wave-swept habitats by an outer cuticle that is largely proteinaceous and ~5-fold harder than the thread core. Threads from several species exhibit granular cuticles containing a protein 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 explore byssus cuticle chemistry by in situ resonance Raman spectroscopy and demonstrate that the cuticle is a polymeric scaffold stabilized by catecholato-iron chelate complexes having an unusual clustered distribution. Consistent with byssal cuticle chemistry and mechanics, we present a model where dense cross-linking in the granules provides hardness, whereas the less cross-linked matrix provides extensibility.
1 Department of Biomaterials, Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam 14424, Germany.
2 Biomolecular Science and Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
3 Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
4 Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
