Adhesive Gels of Marine Gastropods (Mollusca) Origin

Abstract

Synthetic glues differ from analogous biopolymer-containing adhesive gels of gastropod origin in their chemistry and properties. Artificial glues contain diverse synthetic polymers or cross-linked materials and can be obtained in semi-solid and solid states. The consistence of highly deformable adhesive gels is determined by more than 95% water and, consequently, by diluted polymer networks. Diverse biochemical changes are crucial for detachment mechanisms of marine gastropods. The interplay between special proteins and mucous polysaccharides remain to be principal for substrate dependent attachment-detachment phenomena which are based on adhesive gels. Gastropods (slugs, snails, limpets and whelks) represent the largest and most distributed (with freshwater, marine, and terrestrial species) class of molluscs. As reviewed in Beguinot (2017), this class includes herbivores, carnivores and parasitic species.