Marine worm's jaws say 'cutting-edge new aerospace materials'

July 14, 2008
Marine Worm

Enlarge

Researchers are reporting the protein composition of the fang-like jaws of Nereis virens, a common marine worm. The finding could be used in construction and aerospace. Image courtesy of Chris Broomell

Researchers in California and New Hampshire report the first detailed characterization of the protein composition of the hard, fang-like jaws of a common marine worm. Their work could lead to the design of a new class of super-strong, lightweight materials for use as construction and repair materials for spacecraft, airplanes, and other applications. Their study is scheduled for the July 14 issue of ACS' Biomacromolecules.

In the new study, Chris C. Broomell and colleagues note that Nereis virens, also known as the sandworm or ragworm, is a burrowing marine worm found in shallow waters in the North Atlantic region.

Researchers remain intrigued by the remarkable hardness of its jaws and long pincers, which rivals that of human teeth and exceed the hardness of many synthetic plastics. But little is known about the exact chemical composition of these structures.

Broomell and colleagues collected the jaws of 1,000 worms and analyzed their protein content using high-tech instrumentation. They found that the primary chemical in the jaws and pincers of the worm is a unique protein, named Nereis virens jaw protein-1 (Nvjp-1), which is rich in the amino acid histidine.

The researchers also characterized the chemical conditions needed for its formation, such as the presence of zinc, which could allow researchers to create synthetic versions of this super-hard, lightweight material.

Source: ACS

4.5 /5 (31 votes)  

Filter


Move the slider to adjust rank threshold, so that you can hide some of the comments.


Display comments: newest first

earls
Jul 14, 2008

Rank: 3 / 5 (1)
The worm makes me cringe. :/ About as alien as any alien as we might have visit.
Mercury_01
Jul 14, 2008

Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
Yeah, that's a mugshot for you.
superhuman
Jul 14, 2008

Rank: 3.5 / 5 (2)
They use their jaws to burrow through steel hubs of atomic submarines so they can suck plutonium from reactor cores!
Mercury_01
Jul 14, 2008

Rank: 3 / 5 (1)
And Im not even going to mention your vas differens.
Doctorwoof
Jul 14, 2008

Rank: 3 / 5 (1)
Ahhh, I think she's kind of cute.
Mercury_01
Jul 14, 2008

Rank: 3 / 5 (1)
I feel bad for all those worms and the guy whos going to have to pull off all their jaws and glue them all togeter to make a rocket.
Rank 4.5 /5 (31 votes)
Relevant PhysicsForums posts

More news stories

Fool's gold may prove an unlikely alternative to overexploited catalytic materials

Catalytic materials, which lower the energy barriers for chemical reactions, are used in everything from the commercial production of chemicals to catalytic converters in car engines. However, with current catalytic materials ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created 6 hours ago | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Unpicking HIV’s invisibility cloak

Drug researchers hunting for alternative ways to treat human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections may soon have a novel target—its camouflage coat. HIV hides inside a cloak unusually rich in a sugar ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created 6 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Flexible paper robots

(PhysOrg.com) -- These inexpensive robots can stretch, bend and twist under control, and lift objects up to 120 times their own weight. Being soft, they can apply gentle and even pressure, and adapt to varied ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created 23 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

No entry without protein recycling: Researchers discover new coherence in enzyme transport

The group of Prof. Dr. Ralf Erdmann at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany, discovered a connection of peroxisomal protein import and receptor export. In the Journal of Biological Chemistry, they disclo ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created 6 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

New method makes culture of complex tissue possible in any lab

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a new method for making scaffolds for culturing tissue in three-dimensional arrangements that mimic those in the body. This advance, published online in ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created 22 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast


Complex wiring of the nervous system may rely on a just a handful of genes and proteins

Researchers at the Salk Institute have discovered a startling feature of early brain development that helps to explain how complex neuron wiring patterns are programmed using just a handful of critical genes. ...

CIA website offline, Anonymous takes credit

The website of the Central Intelligence Agency was unresponsive on Friday after the hacker group Anonymous claimed to have knocked it offline.

Q&A: Obama and the birth control controversy

(AP) -- What birth control debate? A half-century after the introduction of the pill, acceptance of birth control by American women is virtually universal.

The power of estrogen -- male snakes attract other males

A new study has shown that boosting the estrogen levels of male garter snakes causes them to secrete the same pheromones that females use to attract suitors, and turned the males into just about the sexiest ...

New error-correcting codes guarantee the fastest possible rate of data transmission

Error-correcting codes are one of the triumphs of the digital age. They’re a way of encoding information so that it can be transmitted across a communication channel — such as an optical fiber o ...

Human cognitive performance suffers following natural disasters, researchers find

Not surprisingly, victims of a natural disaster can experience stress and anxiety, but a new study indicates that it might also cause them to make more errors - some serious - in their daily lives. In their upcoming Human Fa ...