Transformation mechanism of amorphous calcium carbonate into calcite in the sea urchin larval spicule

Roles of larval sea urchin spicule SM50 domains in organic matrix self-assembly and calcium carbonate mineralization.

The larval spicule matrix protein SM50 is the most abundant occluded matrix protein present in the mineralized larval sea urchin spicule. Recent evidence implicates SM50 in the stabilization of amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC). Here, we investigate the molecular interactions of SM50 and CaCO3 by investigating the function of three major domains of SM50 as small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) f...

Formation of amorphous calcium carbonate and its transformation into mesostructured calcite†

58 | CrystEngComm, 2015, 17, 58–72 This journal is © The R a University of Granada, Department of Mineralogy and Petrology, Granada, Spain. E-mail: [email protected] b Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science, Polish Academy of Sciences, Reymonta 25, 30-059 Kraków, Poland c KU Leuven, Department of Civil Engineering, Leuven, Belgium † Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Sol...

Mechanism of calcite co-orientation in the sea urchin tooth.

Sea urchin teeth are remarkable and complex calcite structures, continuously growing at the forming end and self-sharpening at the mature grinding tip. The calcite (CaCO(3)) crystals of tooth components, plates, fibers, and a high-Mg polycrystalline matrix, have highly co-oriented crystallographic axes. This ability to co-orient calcite in a mineralized structure is shared by all echinoderms. H...

Structural characterization of amorphous calcium carbonate-binding protein: an insight into the mechanism of amorphous calcium carbonate formation.

ACC (amorphous calcium carbonate) plays an important role in biomineralization process for its function as a precursor for calcium carbonate biominerals. However, it is unclear how biomacromolecules regulate the formation of ACC precursor in vivo. In the present study, we used biochemical experiments coupled with bioinformatics approaches to explore the mechanisms of ACC formation controlled by...

Calcite crystal growth by a solid-state transformation of stabilized amorphous calcium carbonate nanospheres in a hydrogel.