Amyloid-Based Natural Adhesives and Cements - The Functional Fold: Amyloid Structures in Nature - page 144

8.4 Biomimetic Development of Amyloid-

Inspired Adhesives

Amyloid-based biological materials reap the structural and

β

mechanical benefits of the generic amyloid intermolecular -sheet

structure such as high strength, self-healing, and resistance to
degradation, while mitigating amyloid toxicity. These features, along
with the ability to be formed from many unrelated proteins, indicate

possible development of practical materials using a biomimetic
approach.
The high performance of amyloid-based adhesives from diverse
organisms in different environments provides inspiration for the
biomimetic development of adhesives that are markedly different
from those currently available commercially. Adhesives that provide
strong, rapid, and biocompatible adhesion to wet surfaces for
biomedical applications are yet to be achieved. This gap creates the
biggest problem in the area of surgical procedures where currently a
number of imperfect or compromised products exist. Amyloid-based
adhesives have the potential to fill this unmet need.
A task for the future is to produce these valuable biomedical
adhesives in an economically feasible way. Production-scale
availability of recombinant amyloid proteins, via industrial expression
processes, in combination with biological engineering should enable
the development of tailored water-impervious, ecologically safe
adhesives for which there exist unlimited applications.
However, unlike chemical adhesives, biological adhesives can
be remarkably complex, involving a wide range of interactions
and components with different functions. This complexity can be
daunting for basic and applied research, but the discovery of the
relatively simple and robust amyloid in adhesives, that strongly
adhere to many different types of surfaces, affords a great deal of
commercial opportunity.

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8.5 Conclusions

The association of amyloid with bioadhesion highlights the growing
trend reflected in this topic, showing that amyloid, historically
associated with disease, also has non-pathogenic, important
functional roles in nature. As the field develops, it is expected to