Mollusk shell formation: a source of new concepts for understanding biomineralization processes.

By L. Addadi, D. Joester, F. Nudelman, S. Weiner. Chemistry, 2006

953 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The biological approach to forming crystals is proving to be most surprising. Mollusks build their shells by using a hydrophobic silk gel, very acidic aspartic acid rich proteins, and apparently also an amorphous precursor phase from which the crystals form. All this takes place in a highly structured chitinous framework. Here we present ideas on how these disparate components work together to produce the highly structured pearly nacreous layer of the mollusk shell.

Subfields: Biomaterials, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/022e224ae050ece5351525f193fae470341d2bd3

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In Biomaterials

1. M. Meyers
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Citations in the corpus

• Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Calcification in Coccolithophores (2010, background): “This silk fibrion-glycoprotein network forms a hydrated gel matrix that creates an appropriate micro-environment for controlled crystal growth ( Lia Addadi 2006 ).”
• Nanostructure, composition and mechanisms of bivalve shell growth (2008, background): “These findings do not support the more traditional models of nacre formation which postulate the presence of an organic interlamellar sheet as the nucleation template for the crystallization of aragonite or calcite (Bevelander and Nakahara, 1969; Falini et al., 1996; Addadi et al., 2006).”
• Moderate seawater acidification does not elicit long-term metabolic depression in the blue mussel Mytilus edulis (2010, background): “Therefore, decreased shell growth rates may in part also be related to increased protein breakdown and nitrogen loss since calcified structures of bivalve shells are enclosed by an organic matrix consisting of proteins and chitin (Matsushiro and Miyashita 2004; Addadi et al. 2006).”
• Biological mechanisms supporting adaptation to ocean acidification in coastal ecosystems (2015, neutral): “Shell growth initiates with the formation of a periostracum (outer organic coating, Kennedy et al., 1969) in the mantle folds, followed by the deposition of an organic matrix, and then calcium carbonate (Wilbur and Saleuddin 1983; Addidi et al., 2006).”
• Impacts of ocean acidification on marine shelled molluscs (2013, background): “carbonate solution needed for shell calcification is too large to be provided solely by ion concentrating mechanisms in the EPF (Addadi et al. 2006).”
• Cuttlebone calcification increases during exposure to elevated seawater pCO2 in the cephalopod Sepia officinalis (2010, background): “The role of the organic matrix is crucial as it controls crystal nucleation, polymorph selection and crystal orientation of the mineralized CaCO3 (Marin and Luquet 2004; Addadi et al. 2006; Marie et al. 2009).”
• Chitin and collagen as universal and alternative templates in biomineralization (2010, background): “A mixture of chitin–protein pre-fills the space to be mineralized, and the chitin is the ordered structure that ultimately dictates the orientation of the mature crystals (Addadi et al. 2006).”
• Composite materials based on silk proteins (2010, background): “It is possible to deposit a layer of B. mori fibroin on porous β-chitin fibers by dip coating the β-chitin fibers in an aqueous solution of B. mori fibroin followed by drying and treatment with aqueous methanol (inducing β-sheet assembly in the fibroin) [142] and [143].”
• Biological materials: Functional adaptations and bioinspired designs (2012, background): “Finally a group of hydrophilic proteins, rich in aspartic acid are in direct contact with the aragonite tablets [314,320,333].”
• Recent Advances of Shell Matrix Proteins and Cellular Orchestration in Marine Molluscan Shell Biomineralization (2019, background): “Molluscs utilize a highly crosslinked protein layer (periostracum) and the outer mantle epithelial cells (OME), between where they elaborate a matrix comprising various macromolecules serving as the framework (Wilbur and Saleuddin, 1983; Lowenstam and Weiner, 1989; Addadi et al., 2006).”