足丝蛋白是贻贝科(Mytilidae)所特有一种在水环境中也能表现出强黏附功能的蛋白,也是目前开发新型生物黏附剂的主要候选分子.厚壳贻贝(Mytiluscoruscus)广泛分布于我国东部沿海,是我国具有重要经济价值的贻贝,其足丝粗硬,黏附力强,关于厚壳贻贝的足丝蛋白的研究目前尚未见报道.通过醋酸抽提结合反相高效液相色谱分离,从厚壳贻贝足丝盘中分离纯化到数种低分子量足丝蛋白,经质谱鉴定和氨基酸序列测定,其中三种足丝蛋白(分子量6kD左右)属于贻贝足丝蛋白-3(mytilusfootprotein-3,mfp-3)家族,且序列中富含DOPA,另有三种足丝蛋白为未知新型足丝蛋白.石英晶体微天平分析表明,厚壳贻贝低分子量足丝蛋白在金表面有较强的吸附能力,这与其黏附功能是直接相关的.以上工作为深入了解厚壳贻贝低分子量足丝蛋白的分子多样性以及黏附机制奠定了基础.Mytilidaeownsakindofspecialadhesiveproteinknownasthemytilusfootprotein(mfp)whichprovidessecureadhesioninthepresenceofmoistureandthereforebecomethemaincandidatefornewbiologicaladhesivedevelopingatpresent.Possessingimportanteconomicvalue,Mytiluscoruscus,withstrongbyssulandexcellentadhesion,widelyspreadsallthroughthelittoralextentofZhejiang,China,whileitsfootproteinshadrarelybeenstudied.TounderstandthecompositionandthecharacterizationofadhesiveproteinsfromMytiluscoruscusseveralfootproteinswereseparatedbyC18reverse-phaseHPLCfromtheaceticacid-ureaextractsofplaquesandanalyzedbymatrix-assistedlaserdesorptionionizationtimeofflightmassspectrometrytodeterminethemassrangingfrom3to6kDfollowedwithpartiallysequencingbyEdmandegradation.Threeoftheseproteins,containingabundantamountofDopa,weredeterminedtobevariantsofafamilyknownasmfp3(mytilusfootprotein3)andtheotherthreeproteinswerepresumedtobenoveltypesoffootproteins,becausenoresultswerematchedafteronlineBLASTsearch.Quartzcrystalmicrobalanceanalysisassayshowedthatsomeoftheseproteinsexhibitedstrongabsorptionabilitiesongoldsurface,whichdirectlycorrelatedwiththeiradhesionforce.Notwithstandingitslimitation,thisstudydidbuildthefoundationforfurtherresearchonthemoleculardiversityofthefootproteinswithlowmolecularmassfromMytiluscoruscusandtherelatedadhesionmechanism.