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The Formation of Mussel Byssus: Anatomy of a Natural Manufacturing Process

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Book cover Structure, Cellular Synthesis and Assembly of Biopolymers

Part of the book series: Results and Problems in Cell Differentiation ((RESULTS,volume 19))

Abstract

The byssus is an extraorganismic polymeric structure in marine mussels and generally employed as a holdfast or tethering device. Like man-made plastics, the byssus is robust, tough, devoid of living cells, and disposable. Unlike plastics, however, it is ultimately biodegradable. Structural and mechanical analysis of the byssus reveals an exquisitely complex design at every level from the microcellular solid in the plaques to the fiber gradients in the thread core to the interpenetrating polymer networks of the byssal varnish. Such fine tuning of materials properties deserves closer scrutiny and, perhaps, imitation. In this vein, the formation of byssus can be caricatured as a series of manufacturing processes including injection and extrusion molding, calendering, and sizing. The biological relevance of each of these caricatures is explored in this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Marine Studies and Department of Chemistry, University of Delaware, Lewes, DE, 19958, USA

    J. Herbert Waite

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  1. J. Herbert Waite
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  1. Dept. of Biochemistry, Medical Center, The University of Mississippi, 2500 North State Street, Jackson, MS, 39216-4505, USA

    Steven T. Case

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© 1992 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Waite, J.H. (1992). The Formation of Mussel Byssus: Anatomy of a Natural Manufacturing Process. In: Case, S.T. (eds) Structure, Cellular Synthesis and Assembly of Biopolymers. Results and Problems in Cell Differentiation, vol 19. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-47207-0_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-47207-0_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-22440-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-47207-0

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