... by the terrestrial slug Arion subfuscus. This glue contains calcium, magnesium, zinc, manganese, iron and copper. These metals are essential to the integrity of the glue and to gel stiffening. Removal of all metals caused at least a 15-fold decrease in the storage modulus of the glue. Selectively disrupting cross...

...Andrew Bradshaw; Michael Salt; Ashley Bell; Matt Zeitler; Noelle Litra; Andrew M. Smith SUMMARY The terrestrial slug Arion subfuscus secretes a glue that is a dilute gel with remarkable adhesive and cohesive strength. The function of this glue depends on metals, raising the possibility that metal...

..., possibly by crosslinking other polymers in the gel. This study investigates the role of metals in the action of these glue proteins. Atomic absorption spectrometry showed that glue from the slug Arion subfuscus contains substantial quantities of zinc (46±7 p.p.m. and 189±80 p.p.m. in two different sets...

... proteins in the adhesive mucus. The present study identifies similar proteins from the glue of the slug Arion subfuscus and the land snail Helix aspersa . To investigate the role played by these proteins in adhesion,the proteins were isolated from the adhesive mucus of different molluscs and added...