The scientists have now found a way to reproduce the secretion, a protein from the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis. The substance is exceptionally sticky, excludes water molecules and yet remains flexible. Earlier attempts to copy the protein using bacteria failed regularly. Now, the researchers discovered that the mussel substance bears great resemblance to a special protein contained in the cell walls of plants. They combined genes from mussels and tobacco and implanted them in bacteria.
Tobacco plants infected with the bacteria are now capable of producing the mussel glue.
An extract from these tobacco plants is to be used in medicine to help mend broken bones as well as tears in teeth and tissue. The glue has the distinction of being very well tolerated by the human organism - it causes no damage to tissue, nor does it provoke the immune system into action.