Phragmatopoma californica, commonly known as the sandcastle worm, the honeycomb worm[1] or the honeycomb tube worm,[2] is a reef-forming marine polychaeteworm belonging to the family Sabellarididae. It is dark brown in color with a crown of lavender tentacles and has a length of up to about 7.5 centimeters (3.0in).[3] The worm inhabits the Californian coast, from Sonoma County to northern Baja California.[4]
Sandcastle worms live in colonies, building tube reefs somewhat similar to sandcastles (hence the name), which are often seen on rocky beaches at medium and low tide. The sandcastles, which have a honeycomb-like outward appearance, can cover an area of up to 2 meters (6.6ft) on a side.[3] They may share areas with mussel beds and are found in any place that provides some shelter, such as rock faces, overhanging ledges and concave shorelines.[4]
The worms remain in their tubes and are almost never seen. At low tide, when above the water, they close the entrance to their tubes with a shield-like operculum made of dark setae. When submerged, they extend their tentacles out of the tube to catch food particles and sand grains. The grains are sorted, with the best ones used to keep the tube in repair,[3] and the rest ejected. The colonies are formed by the gregarious settlement of larvae, which require contact with an existing colony to metamorphose into adult worms.[4] Gregarious settlement of this species has been linked to specific free fatty acids associated with the tubes of adult worms.[5] On rocky beaches, settlement is dependent on larval behavior in the water column and perception of chemical cues when the larvae contact the tubes.[6]
Sandcastle worms should not be confused with the similar, but more northern Sabellaria cementarium which are found from Alaska to southern California and have an amber-colored operculum.[4] Unlike P. californica, S. cementarium rarely forms colonies, does not settle gregariously, and its larvae do not respond to free fatty acids.[7]
Underwater glue
Colony underwaterColony exposed by low tide
In 2004, researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) discovered that the glue used by the Phragmatopoma worm to build its protecting tube was made of specific proteins with opposite charges.[8] Those proteins are called polyphenolic proteins[9] that are used as bioadhesives.[10] They succeeded in obtaining the sequence of these adhesive proteins.[11] Inspired by these results University of Utah researchers reported in 2009 that they succeeded in duplicating the glue that the worms secrete and use to stick sand grains together underwater.[12] The typical amount of glue that the worm produces at once is approximately 100 picoliters, requiring 50 million to fill a teaspoon.[13]
They believe the glue to have applications as a biocompatiblemedical adhesive, for instance to repair shattered bones.[14] If found to be practicable, the synthetic glue, which is based on complex coacervates,[15] could be used to fix small bone fragments, instead of metal stabilizer devices such as pins and screws, which are challenging to use.[14] Other potential medical applications include sealing skin cuts, repair of cranio-facial bones, and corneal incisions.[13]
Obstacles include ensuring that the bond is to the substrate rather than the surface layer of the water. Another is that in order to cure, glues need to dry out. Most either do not cure underwater or set too quickly.[13]
The proteins that are the basis of its adhesive contain side chains of phosphate and amine groups, which are well-known adhesion promoters which probably helps wet the surface. The glue has two parts, with different proteins and side groups in each. The two are made separately in a gland, like an epoxy, and mix as they are secreted.[16][17] The glue sets in about 30 seconds, probably triggered by the large difference in acidity between the acidic glue and seawater.[18] Curing takes about six hours, as the proteins cross-link, reaching the consistency of shoeleather.[13]
Existing medical superglues are highly immunogenic. Initial experiments with the new synthetic on animals show no immune response. But inside the body, the glue needs to eventually degrade, ideally at roughly the same rate as the bone or tissue regrows. Degradable versions therefore include proteins that are broken down by specialized cells.[13]
↑ Hinton, Sam (1987). Seashore life of southern California: an introduction to the animal life of California beaches south of Santa Barbara. California natural history guides. Vol.26. University of California Press. p.48. ISBN978-0-520-05924-5.
↑ Pawlik, J. R. (1986). "Chemical induction of larval settlement and metamorphosis in the reef-building tube worm Phragmatopoma californica (Sabellariidae: Polychaeta)". Marine Biology. 91: 59–68. doi:10.1007/BF00397571. S2CID87087873.
↑ Pawlik, JR; Chia, F-S (1991). "Larval settlement of Sabellaria cementarium Moore, and comparisons with other species of sabellariid polychaetes". Canadian Journal of Zoology. 69 (3): 765–770. doi:10.1139/z91-110.
↑ Jensen, Rebecca A.; Morse, Daniel E. (1988). "The bioadhesive of Phragmatopoma californica tubes: a silk-like cement containing L-DOPA". Journal of Comparative Physiology B. 158 (3): 317–24. doi:10.1007/BF00695330. S2CID25457825.
↑ Rzepecki, L. M.; Chin, S. S.; Waite, J. H.; Lavin, M. F. (1991). "Molecular diversity of marine glues: Polyphenolic proteins from five mussel species". Molecular Marine Biology and Biotechnology. 1 (1): 78–88. PMID1845474.
Cyanoacrylates are a family of strong fast-acting adhesives with industrial, medical, and household uses. They are derived from ethyl cyanoacrylate and related esters. The cyanoacrylate group in the monomer rapidly polymerizes in the presence of water to form long, strong chains.
Polychaeta is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes. Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are made of chitin. More than 10,000 species are described in this class. Common representatives include the lugworm and the sandworm or clam worm Alitta.
A byssus is a bundle of filaments secreted by many species of bivalve mollusc that function to attach the mollusc to a solid surface. Species from several families of clams have a byssus, including pen shells (Pinnidae), true mussels (Mytilidae), and Dreissenidae.
l-DOPA, also known as l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine and used medically as levodopa, is made and used as part of the normal biology of some plants and animals, including humans. Humans, as well as a portion of the other animals that utilize l-DOPA, make it via biosynthesis from the amino acid l-tyrosine.
Coacervate is an aqueous phase rich in macromolecules such as synthetic polymers, proteins or nucleic acids. It forms through liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), leading to a dense phase in thermodynamic equilibrium with a dilute phase. The dispersed droplets of dense phase are also called coacervates, micro-coacervates or coacervate droplets. These structures draw a lot of interest because they form spontaneously from aqueous mixtures and provide stable compartmentalization without the need of a membrane—they are protocell candidates.
Spirobranchus giganteus, commonly known as the Christmas tree worm, is a tube-building polychaete worm belonging to the family Serpulidae. The S. giganteus lives in coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific region to the Caribbean.
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Bioadhesives are natural polymeric materials that act as adhesives. The term is sometimes used more loosely to describe a glue formed synthetically from biological monomers such as sugars, or to mean a synthetic material designed to adhere to biological tissue.
Schizobranchia insignis is a marine feather duster worm. It may be commonly known as the split-branch feather duster, split-plume feather duster, and the feather duster worm. It may be found from Alaska to Central California, living on pilings and rocks, intertidal to 46 m. It is particularly abundant on the underside of wharves in Puget Sound, Washington, and on wharves at Boston Harbor marina.
Sabellaria alveolata,, is a reef-forming polychaete. It is distributed around the Mediterranean Sea, and from the north Atlantic Ocean to south Morocco. It is also found in the British Isles at its northern limit in the northeast Atlantic. Its common name is derived from the honeycomb-like pattern it creates when building its tube reefs.
P. californica may refer to:
Sabellaria spinulosa is a species of marine polychaete worm in the family Sabellariidae, commonly known as the Ross worm. It lives in a tube built of sand, gravel and pieces of shell.
Neosabellaria cementarium is a species of marine tube worm in the family Sabellariidae, perhaps better known by its previous name, Sabellaria cementarium. It is found in the North Pacific Ocean.
Hydrophobic light-activated adhesive (HLAA) is a type of glue that sets in seconds, but only after exposure to ultraviolet light. One biocompatible, biodegradable HLAA is under consideration for use in human tissue repair as a replacement for sutures, staples and other approaches.
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Jonathan Wilker is an American scientist, engineer, and educator who focuses on developing marine animal-inspired underwater adhesives for use in surgery, construction, and other applications. His work has been profiled by The New York Times, National Public Radio, Popular Science, and his research findings appear in many scientific journals, such as Nature, Journal of the American Chemical Society, and ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. He is a professor at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, where he teaches courses in inorganic chemistry and bioinorganic chemistry. Wilker has received a number of awards for his teaching including The College of Science Outstanding Teacher Award at Purdue University (2011). In addition to being in the Department of Chemistry, he is also a Professor of Materials Engineering at Purdue University. Outside activities include advocacy for federal funding of science research and development.
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