Adhesive behavior and detachment mechanisms of bacterial amyloid nanofibers

Amyloid nanofibers, such as curli nanofibers, have proven capable of adhering strongly to abiotic surfaces. However, the adhesive performance of individual nanofibers and the dependence of this performance on physical properties remain to be characterized. We carried out coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to determine the detachment mechanisms of single amyloid fibers from surfaces. Taking a generic model inspired from the curli...