A novel assessment of the traction forces upon settlement of two typical marine fouling invertebrates using PDMS micropost arrays

• Published in: Biology open Vol. 7; no. 1; p. bio030262
• Main Authors: Xiao, Kang, Cao, Wen-Bin, Rong, Cu-Huang, Chen, Lian-Guo, Yang, Xiao-Xue, Wen, Wei-Jia, Qian, Pei-Yuan, Hu, Zhang-Li, Xu, Ying, Zhang, Yu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England The Company of Biologists Ltd 01.01.2018; The Company of Biologists
• Subjects: Aquaculture; Arrays; Barnacle; Bending; Bending theory; Biofouling; Biological activity; Bryozoan; Bugula neritina; Epithelium; Fouling organisms; Invertebrates; Marine biofouling; Metamorphosis; PDMS micropost arrays; Polydimethylsiloxane; Settling; Silicone resins; Traction; Traction force; Barnacle; PDMS micropost arrays; Traction force; Bryozoan; Marine biofouling; Metamorphosis
• ISSN: 2046-6390; 2046-6390
• DOI: 10.1242/bio.030262

Marine biofouling poses a severe threat to maritime and aquaculture industries. To prevent the attachment of marine biofouling organisms on man-made structures, countless cost and effort was spent annually. In particular, most attention has been paid on the development of efficient and environmentally friendly fouling-resistant coatings, as well as larval settlement mechanism of several major biofouling invertebrates. In this study, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) micropost arrays were utilized as the settlement substrata and opposite tractions were identified during early settlement of the barnacle and the bryozoan The settling pushed the periphery microposts with an average traction force of 376.2 nN, while settling pulled the periphery microposts with an average traction force of 205.9 nN. These micropost displacements are consistent with the body expansion of during early post-settlement metamorphosis stage and elevation of wall epithelium of during early pre-ancestrula stage, respectively. As such, the usage of micropost array may supplement the traditional histological approach to indicate the early settlement stages or even the initiation of larval settlement of marine fouling organisms, and could finally aid in the development of automatic monitoring platform for the real-time analysis on this complex biological process.