NICOP - Molecular Mechanisms of Barnacle Adhesion: A Combined Structural Biology and Computational Study

Biofouling, the colonization of unwanted marine organisms onto man-made surface such as ship hulls or static port infrastructures is a global maritime issue that has severe economic as well as environmental consequences. The increase in hydrodynamic drag associated with maintaining vessel speed when its hull is heavily fouled results in fuel consumption increase by as much as40% or an additional 300 million tons of fuels, which creates an additional greenhouse gas production estimated to be 20 million tons per annum. Worldwide, the associated cost to the shipping industry due to biofouling is estimated to be ~USD 50 billion per year. Biofouling also leads to severe structural damage and can accelerate corrosion of many marine infrastructures. Towards the development of efficient marine anti-fouling coatings, it is critical to elucidate the molecular strategies used by biofouling organisms to stick onto surfaces underwater.Some of the most opportunistic or aggressive marine foulers are the barnacles. It has been established in recent years that barnacles use a proteinaceous cement made of highly insoluble cement proteins (CPs) to stick to solid surfaces. Whereas such proteins have been identified and sequenced and biophysical studies conducted on these glue proteins, we still have very little understanding of how CPs are able to adhere to solid substrates so efficiently. In order to decipher the mechanisms of underwater barnacle adhesion, the three-dimensional (tertiary) protein structure of CPs at the molecular level, as well as their interactions with immersed solid structures, must be established and this constitutes the main objective of this proposal. To solve this fundamental question, this project intends to solve the tertiary structure of CPs using state-of- the-art protein Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) methods, which will be combined withextensive molecular dynamic (MD) simulations of CPs/solid substrate interactions.