Nano-size whiskers taken from sea creatures contain cellulose that are thousands of times smaller than muscle cells and are able to cause cell alignment
Alignment is extremely important because aligned fibers are contained in body tissue, which gives the body strength and stiffness.
The tunicates grow on natural and man-made structures in waters around the world, are plentiful, and a renewable resource. The cellulose the UK scientists extracted from these sea creatures are ideally suited for the creation of muscle tissue. The research team is able to chemically extract nano-amounts of cellulose from the creature, and when these nanofibers were aligned and parallel to one another, rapid muscle cell alignment and fusion occurred.