Mussel adhesive protein as an environmentally-friendly harmless wood furniture adhesive

Abstract Recent adhesive technologies have focused on the development of high-quality and eco-friendly adhesives. Thus, there is a gradual shift from the currently used chemical-based adhesives toward harmless adhesives with improved quality and performance. Here, we evaluated the potential use of bacteria-produced recombinant mussel adhesive protein (MAP) as a harmless wood furniture adhesive. We formulated a MAP wood adhesive as an inclusion body type for economical preparation, and we confirmed its harmlessness through the non-detection of volatile organic compounds and heavy metals. The formulated MAP showed sufficiently strong bulk adhesive strength for the dried gluing of wood adherends. We also found that the formulated MAP wood adhesive exhibits robust adhesion in various environmental conditions, including open assembly times, incubation times, temperatures, and humidity levels. In summary, the developed recombinant MAP could be successfully used as a promising environmentally-friendly, harmless wood furniture adhesive.