Biological control of crystallographic architecture: Hierarchy and co-alignment parameters

Maier, Bernd; Griesshaber, Erika; Alexa, Patrick; Ziegler, Andreas; Ubhi, H. S.; Schmahl, Wolfgang W.

doi:10.1016/j.actbio.2014.02.039

Cited by 18 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…A strong crystallographic relationship between adjacent crystals with misorientation axes clustering around the c-axis emerges for Allonema. It is a consistent characteristic of biominerals produced via BCM, even though the degree of crystallographic misorientation varies between species and types of structures: from only a few degrees in the prismatic layer of gastropods (Suzuki et al, 2010), the fiber bundles in bivalve nacre (Maier et al, 2014), or structural subunits of sea urchin teeth to ca. 40 • in brachiopods (e.g., Cusack et al, 2007).…”

Section: Crystallographic Parameters Potentially Unique To Bcmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These experiments may elucidate the mechanism driving the distribution of misorientations in vivo, but, similarly as most other published studies so far, cannot be directly compared with our observations, because they do not address the distribution of misorientation axes. Maier et al (2014) concluded that biological control over the crystallographic texture is reflected in the frequency distribution of misorientation angles (i.e., log-normal distribution). In contrast, our data reveals an asymmetric bimodal distribution for Rothpletzella and trapezoid-shaped distributions for Allonema and the trilobite fragments, which would imply a less orderly overall structure.…”

Section: Crystallographic Parameters Potentially Unique To Bcmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The criterion for defining a new crystal surrounded by high-angle grain boundaries was based on misorientation axis analysis. Following Maier et al (2014), the critical misorientation angle was set to 30 • . However, for our study, cross-checking revealed that for all analyzed organisms a threshold of 15 • separates adjacent orientation domains.…”

Section: Ebsd Data Display and Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Distinguishing Biologically Controlled Calcareous Biomineralization in Fossil Organisms Using Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD)

et al. 2018

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Although carbonate-precipitating cyanobacteria are ubiquitous in aquatic ecosystems today, the criteria used to identify them in the geological record are subjective and rarely testable. Differences in the mode of biomineralization between cyanobacteria and eukaryotes, i.e., biologically induced calcification (BIM) vs. biologically controlled calcification (BCM), result in different crystallographic structures which might be used as a criterion to test cyanobacterial affinities. Cyanobacteria are often used as a "wastebasket taxon," to which various microfossils are assigned. The lack of a testable criterion for the identification of cyanobacteria may bias their fossil record severely. We employed electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) to investigate the structure of calcareous skeletons in two microproblematica widespread in Palaeozoic marine ecosystems: Rothpletzella, hypothesized to be a cyanobacterium, and an incertae sedis microorganism Allonema. We used a calcareous trilobite shell as a BCM reference. The mineralized structure of Allonema has a simple single-layered structure of acicular crystals perpendicular to the surface of the organism. The c-axes of these crystals are parallel to the elongation and thereby normal to the surface of the organism. EBSD pole figures and misorientation axes distribution reveal a fiber texture around the c-axis with a small degree of variation (up to 30 • ), indicating a highly ordered structure. A comparable pattern was found in the trilobite shell. This structure allows excluding biologically induced mineralization as the mechanism of shell formation in Allonema. In Rothpletzella, the c-axes of the microcrystalline sheath show a broader clustering compared to Allonema, but still reveal crystals tending to be perpendicular to the surface of the organism. The misorientation axes of adjacent crystals show an approximately random distribution. Rothpletzella also shares morphological similarities with extant cyanobacteria. We propose that the occurrence of a strong misorientation relationship between adjacent crystals with misorientation axes clustering around the c-axis can be used as a proxy for the degree of control exerted by an organism on its mineralized structures. Therefore, precisely constrained distributions of misorientations (misorientation angle and misorientation axis) may be used to identify BCM in otherwise problematic fossils and can be used to ground-truth the cyanobacterial affinities commonly proposed for problematic extinct organisms.

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Section: Crystallographic Parameters Potentially Unique To Bcmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Crystallographic Parameters Potentially Unique To Bcmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ebsd Data Display and Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Distinguishing Biologically Controlled Calcareous Biomineralization in Fossil Organisms Using Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD)

et al. 2018

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“…Whether the shell's composition had to be replicated in order to replicate its aspect, was an open question 27 : gel media were associated with field observations of fast growing shell 28 , comparing the interaction of calcium carbonate with relevant organic media in vitro and in vivo [31,35] produced some interesting discussion on the nature of "organo-mineral complexes" that may direct shell patterns, but the composition of shell matrix was inaccessible 29 .…”

Section: Pearls Without Nucleimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It would be interesting to know how good can this approximation get. For an update on CV Raman's discussion of different crystallographic patterns of nacre, see Fryda [27], for the crystallographic coherence of nacre and its grain structure see Maier [28] and Griesshaber [29].…”

Section: Pearls Without Nucleimentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural Pearls

Vasiliu¹

2016

KEM

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Abstract.A literature less traveled -peaking between 1900-1920 -draws on pre-classical concepts of crystal growth and a trove of field biology, to understand ectopic shell production, the natural source of pearls. By 1907, grafts from the calcifying mantle epithelium on gonads induced nacre mineralization consistently in Pinctada margaritifera, suggesting that anomalously displaced, readily specialized cells are at least a sufficient cause of natural pearl formation. Otherwise, the epithelial sacks wrapping natural nacreous pearls must specialize for nacre production independently from the shell producing mantle -an idea supported by experiments with shell regeneration, but not amenable to a method of inducing pearl formation. At the time, chasing epithelial cell migration was technically unfeasible, signaling was news, stemness was fiction. Boldly, Jameson & Rubbel [1902-1912 marshaled natural pearl nuclei and shell repairs as mineral records of cells specializing de novo into the shell's secretory regimes. Much of this paper reenacts the historic debate on the origin of pearls: thence bold ideas connect smoothly with new work both on bone or shell. I replicate Jameson's choice of samples and revisit his proposal to search for an "agency [other than the] shell-secreting mechanism" acting on "replacement cells" as the origin of pearls. Much has changed: specialized epithelial cells reportedly migrate; non-differentiated cells remain available throughout and near the calcifying mantle epithelium -both, open possibilities for natural pearl nucleation. Interest in understanding the latter now connects with results sketching the signaling cascade in cell specialization toward bone morphogenesis. Replicating Jameson's choice of samples, I describe the more spectacular structural changes in the mineralization of pearls associated with two instances of cell specialization: toward producing one shell material -in the event of natural pearl nucleation, or switching between two in later pearl growth. Clusters of cells producing distinctly novel mineralization -nacre over fibrous-prismatic aragonite -could be singled out next to natural pearls by Jameson. The possibility has not been probed in roughly a hundred years. Natural pearl nucleation as a cellular event has never been explored.Much of the literature debating the origin of natural pearls has been written more than a century ago. Its foundation is a trove of field biology that still contains the most detailed descriptions of the circumstances, anatomic placement, surrounding cells -the natural pearl 'sacs' -associated with a variety of mineralization in natural pearls. The dialogue between two authors -Henry Lister Jameson [1,2,3] and W. A. Herdman [4] -sums the state of the art shortly before the study of natural pearls ebbs into the historical lull in pearling between the invention of grafting -the technical foundation of pearl culture, and the current revival of interest in natural pearls. This is still the state of the art.1 Herdman [4], page 8.

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Biomineralization as a Paradigm of Directional Solidification: A Physical Model for Molluscan Shell Ultrastructural Morphogenesis

et al. 2018

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Molluscan shells are a model system to understand the fundamental principles of mineral formation by living organisms. The diversity of unconventional mineral morphologies and 3D mineral–organic architectures that comprise these tissues, in combination with their exceptional mechanical efficiency, offers a unique platform to study the formation–structure–function relationship in a biomineralized system. However, so far, morphogenesis of these ultrastructures is poorly understood. Here, a comprehensive physical model, based on the concept of directional solidification, is developed to describe molluscan shell biomineralization. The capacity of the model to define the forces and thermodynamic constraints that guide the morphogenesis of the entire shell construct—the prismatic and nacreous ultrastructures and their transitions—and govern the evolution of the constituent mineralized assemblies on the ultrastructural and nanostructural levels is demonstrated using the shell of the bivalve Unio pictorum. Thereby, explicit tools for novel bioinspired and biomimetic bottom‐up materials design are provided.

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Biological control of crystallographic architecture: Hierarchy and co-alignment parameters

Cited by 18 publications

References 31 publications

Distinguishing Biologically Controlled Calcareous Biomineralization in Fossil Organisms Using Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD)

Distinguishing Biologically Controlled Calcareous Biomineralization in Fossil Organisms Using Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD)

Natural Pearls

Biomineralization as a Paradigm of Directional Solidification: A Physical Model for Molluscan Shell Ultrastructural Morphogenesis

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