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Updated: Feb 3, 2026

Silk Film Culture System for in vitro Analysis and Biomaterial Design
Published on: April 24, 2012
Self-assembled adhesive biomaterials formed by a genetically designed fusion protein
Pulakesh Aich1, Jaeyeon An, Byeongseon Yang
1Center for Self-assembly and Complexity, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Pohang, 37673, Republic of Korea. jhroh@ibs.re.kr kmpark@ibs.re.kr kkim@postech.ac.kr.
Abstract:
Here we report a recombinant protein (MS) obtained by genetic fusion of a mussel foot protein (Mfp3) motif into a silk spidroin (MaSp1). The MS not only self-assembled into a supramolecular fibre, as does the parent MaSp1, but also showed enhanced adhesiveness resulting from the DOPA-containing Mfp3 portion. The successful incorporation of the wet adhesiveness of Mfp3 into the well-structured assembly of MaSp1 may provide a new insight for the genetic design of underwater adhesive recombinant proteins by utilizing the structural features of a spidroin protein.
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