Although the ability to elaborate calcium carbonate biominerals was apparently gained independently during animal evolution, members of the alpha carbonic anhydrases (α-CAs) family, which catalyze the interconversion of CO2 into HCO3-, are involved in the biomineralization process across metazoans. In the Mediterranean red coral Corallium rubrum, inhibition studies suggest an essential role of ...

Marine macroinvertebrates are ideal sentinel organisms to monitor rapid environmental changes associated with climatic phenomena. These organisms build up protective exoskeletons incrementally by biologically-controlled mineralization, which is deeply rooted in long-term evolutionary processes. Recent studies relating potential rapid environmental fluctuations to climate change, such as ocean a...

Fossils are essential to the reconstruction of the evolution of life and episodes in Earth history. Fossil skeletal material serves as the repository of chemical data widely used in the reconstruction of the Earth’s climate–ocean system at various time scales. Knowledge of biomineralization – the processes associated with the formation of mineralized biological structures – is essential to prop...

Magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) biomineralize intracellular, membrane-bounded crystals of magnetite (Fe3 O4 ) and/or greigite (Fe3 S4 ) called magnetosomes. MTB play important roles in the geochemical cycling of iron, sulfur, nitrogen and carbon. Significantly, they also represent an intriguing model system not just for the study of microbial biomineralization but also for magnetoreception, prokar...

Microorganisms and their biomineralization processes are widespread in almost every environment on earth. In this work, Streptomyces luteogriseus DHS C014, a dominant lithophilous actinobacteria isolated from microbial mats on limestone rocks, was used to investigate its potential biomineralization to allow a better understanding of bacterial contributions to carbonate mineralization in nature....

Tooth enamel has the highest degree of biomineralization of all vertebrate hard tissues. During the secretory stage of enamel formation, ameloblasts deposit an extracellular matrix that is in direct contact with the ameloblast plasma membrane. Although it is known that integrins mediate cell-matrix adhesion and regulate cell signaling in most cell types, the receptors that regulate ameloblast a...

The genetic bases of skeletogenesis are expected to shed light on the origins of metazoan biomineralization. Here we review aspeets of genetic machineries of inyertebrate sk letogenesis, including regulutory genes involyed in hiomi"eralization as well, and with an enumerative reference to the genes encoding skeletal mahix proteins. The complete primary structure has been determilled for a total...

Mya truncata, a soft shell clam, is presented as a new model to study biomineralization through a proteomics approach. In this study, the shell and mantle tissue were analysed in order to retrieve knowledge about the secretion of shell matrix proteins (SMPs). Out of 67 and 127 shell and mantle proteins respectively, 16 were found in both shell and mantle. Bioinformatic analysis of SMP sequences...

Nano-solidified intermedias (NSI) of cisplatin were prepared via biomineralization and applied to reverse the drug resistance of cancers in vitro and in vivo by an alternative internalization pathway.

A series of multiradiate calcium phosphate patterns have been observed by a gradating chitosan-polyaspartatic acid (PAsp) system, and their morphology evolution reveals the effect of chitosan and PAsp on the interfacial biomineralization.