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Biomineralization of sea urchin teeth

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Frontiers of Chemistry in China

Abstract

The sea urchin tooth, which is composed almost entirely of Mg-enriched CaCO3, is of particular interest as a model for the study of biomineralization process due to its amazing mechanical toughness and hardness. Our recent work on the formation process, the crystal composition and orientation, and the mechanical properties of sea urchin tooth are summarized in this paper. First, transmission electron microscopy images and electron diffraction patterns, as well as crystal overgrowth experiments, show that the highly convoluted primary plate-lamellar needle complex grows into a single crystal of calcite from a transient amorphous precursor phase in the sea urchin tooth. Amorphous calcium carbonate exists in the center of both the primary plates and the needles, even though the surfaces are already well crystallized. Second, X-ray photoelectron emission spectromicroscopy demonstrates that the needles, primary plates, and polycrystalline matrix crystals are all aligned. And there are two alternating crystal orientations in the stone part of the sea urchin tooth. Microbeam X-ray diffraction patterns further prove the existence of the two crystal orientations in sea urchin tooth. The c axes of calcite in the two oriented crystals are only a few degrees from each other. Third, the mechanical properties of sea urchin tooth grinding tip were studied by nanoindentation. The polycrystalline matrix has a higher elastic modulus and hardness than single crystalline needles and plates. It is proposed that the grinding capability of the tooth can be attributed to the small and uniform sizes of the polycrystalline crystals, their high Mg contents, and the two co-orientations of single crystals and polycrystalline structure. The improved understanding of the biomineralization process of sea urchin tooth and the relations between their structures and mechanical properties may shed light on the design of mechanical grinding and cutting tools with tunable properties.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory for Structural Chemistry of Unstable and Stable Species, College of Chemistry, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Yurong Ma & Limin Qi

Authors
  1. Yurong Ma
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  2. Limin Qi
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Correspondence to Yurong Ma.

Additional information

Yurong MA studied food engineering and got her B.E. degree in 1998 from Shandong Institute of Light Industry. She got her M.E. degree in applied chemistry in 2001 from Jinan University, Shandong under the supervision of Prof. Xuelin Wang. She completed her Ph.D. study on physical chemistry-colloid chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Jiming Ma and Prof. Limin Qi from Peking University in 2004. She then went to the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Germany to work with PD Dr. Helmut Cölfen and Prof. Markus Antonietti on non-classical crystallization processes of organic materials. Later on, she worked on biomineralization with Prof. Steve Weiner and Prof. Lia Addadi at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. Now she is working as an associate professor on biomineralization and colloid chemistry at the College of Chemistry, Peking University.

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Ma, Y., Qi, L. Biomineralization of sea urchin teeth. Front. Chem. China 5, 299–308 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11458-010-0215-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11458-010-0215-4

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