Amyloid-Based Natural Adhesives and Cements - The Functional Fold: Amyloid Structures in Nature - page 135

a b

ap

h

Figure 8.2 (a) Light micrograph of the marine parasite

(ventral view). Anterior pads (ap) bind to fish skin using a
temporary adhesive secretion, and the haptor (h) attaches
to host skin by suction (scale bar, 1 mm). (b) Atomic force
microscopy (AFM) image of fibres obtained directly from an
adhesive pad print of

Entobdella soleae

without purification or additional
isolation (scale bar, 3 µm). The dark to light height range = 0-15
nm. From A. S. Mostaert, R. Crockett, G. Kearn, I. Cherny, E. Gazit,
L. C. Serpell, and S. P. Jarvis, Mechanically functional amyloid
fibrils in the adhesive of a marine invertebrate as revealed by
Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy,

E . soleae

Archives

of Histology and Cytology , 199-207 (2009), reprinted by

permission of the publisher (International Society of Histology
and Cytology). 17 See also Colour Insert.

, 72

Since then, two species of unicellular green algae ( Cocccomyxa sp.

and ) growing in damp, sub-aerial habitats in

terrestrial environments (Fig. 8.1), have also been shown to produce
amyloid in their permanently attached adhesive pads beneath each
individual algal cell.

Glaphyrella trebouxiodes

16

These amyloid structures were studied in
detail with AFM to characterize their nanomechanical properties,
and link this to their possible function (see also Section 8.3). In the
same year, an amyloid-based adhesive was found to be secreted from
the parasitic marine flatworm,

17

Entobdella soleae that attaches to

the skin of the common sole ( ). This parasite produces

a temporary adhesive that appears to form a (sub)-monolayer
coverage of proteinaceous structures without any additional matrix

Soleae solea