Chemico–structural phylogeny of the discinoid brachiopod shell

Material properties of brachiopod shell ultrastructure by nanoindentation.

Mineral-producing organisms exert exquisite control on all aspects of biomineral production. Among shell-bearing organisms, a wide range of mineral fabrics are developed reflecting diverse modes of life that require different material properties. Our knowledge of how biomineral structures relate to material properties is still limited because it requires the determination of these properties on...

The Magellania venosa Biomineralizing Proteome: A Window into Brachiopod Shell Evolution

Brachiopods are a lineage of invertebrates well known for the breadth and depth of their fossil record. Although the quality of this fossil record attracts the attention of paleontologists, geochemists, and paleoclimatologists, modern day brachiopods are also of interest to evolutionary biologists due to their potential to address a variety of questions ranging from developmental biology to bio...

Quantitative Estimates of Time-Averaging in Brachiopod Shell Accumulations from a Holocene Tropical Shelf (SW Brazil)

Time-averaging, the mixing of fossils of different ages within a single bed, defines the limit of temporal resolution of the fossil record. Quantitative estimates of this resolution threshold have not been acquired for any group other than mollusks. This study provides the first quantitative estimates of time-averaging for brachiopods, extending our understanding of intrinsic, or group specific...

Possible co-option of engrailed during brachiopod and mollusc shell development.

In molluscs, two homeobox genes, engrailed (en) and distal-less (dlx), are transcription factors that are expressed in correlation with shell development. They are expressed in the regions between shell-forming and non-shell-forming cells, likely defining the boundaries of shell-forming fields. Here we investigate the expression of two transcription factors in the brachiopod Lingula anatina We ...

Gene Expression Patterns in Brachiopod Larvae Refute the “Brachiopod-Fold” Hypothesis