Researchers led by Simon McQueen-Mason at the University of York believe they have found a way of reproducing the water-resistant adhesive that can resist everything from crashing waves to the fingers of small children.

The glue is thought to be twice as tough as most epoxy resins.

The key is a protein from the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis, which is extraordinarily sticky, excludes water molecules and is still flexible.

Mr McQueen-Mason, writing in "New Scientist" said: "Its flexibility allows it to get into molecular nooks and crannies.

"A glue that works in the wet will have massive biomedical and marine engineering applications."

Plant protein

Earlier attempts to genetically engineer bacteria to make the protein have failed - the difference this time is that the York University team noticed that the structure of the mussel protein was remarkably similar to one in plant cell walls called an extensin.

The job of extensins make plants less digestible to pests, and strengthen cell walls so they can withstand strong winds.

The researchers took the gene from the mussel and "infected" tobacco plants by placing it in a bacteria.

The tobacco plant then uses the mussel gene to make its own extensins, which will hopefully be harvested by the team before it kills the plant.

One of the big advantages of the protein is that it does no damage to human cells, and attracts no immune response.