Using a mechanism of 'self-generation', polymer surfaces were coated with ocular mucin-type glycoproteins that were extracted from tear fluid and immobilized through specific interaction with a lectin, jacalin. Separately, jacalin affinity chromatography of tear fluid showed the main retained components had molecular weights higher than 200 kDa. In evaluations of bacterial adhesion, a model surface with jacalin-immobilized ocular mucins took up a significantly smaller number of adhered Staphylococcus epidermidis (0.041x10(6) cells cm(-2)) than a bare surface of the same polymer (1.202x10(6) cells cm(-2)). The lectin-mediated ocular mucin coating reduced the bacteria uptake by about 95% showing that the presence of mucin on surfaces may afford a general protection against bacterial colonization.