Amorphous mineral phases play important roles in the skeletons of many organisms, but the molecular basis for species-specific control is still under debate. The demonstration that energy-rich metabolites such as phosphoenolpyruvate stabilize amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) in crayfish inspires speculation about calcium minerals in emerging metabolisms.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Lowenstam, H.A. Science 211, 1126–1131 (1981).
Addadi, L., Raz, S. & Weiner, S. Adv. Mater. 15, 959–970 (2003).
Beniash, E. et al. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 264, 461–465 (1997).
Weiner, S. J. Struct. Biol. 163, 229–234 (2008).
Radha, A.V., Forbes, T.Z., Killian, C.E., Gilbert, P.U. & Navrotsky, A. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 107, 16438–16443 (2010).
Sato, A. et al. Nat. Chem. Biol. 7, 197–199 (2011).
Lippmann, F. Sedimentary Carbonate Minerals (Springer, Heidelberg, 1973).
Cornish-Bowden, A. (ed.). New Beer in an Old Bottle: Eduard Buchner and the Growth of Biochemical Knowledge (Universitat de València, València, Spain, 1997).
Horowitz, N.H. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 31, 153–157 (1945).
Oparin, A.I. The Origin of Life on Earth. Trans. Ann Synge (Academic, New York, 1957).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The author declares no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Weiss, I. Metabolites empowering minerals. Nat Chem Biol 7, 192–193 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.550
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.550
- Springer Nature America, Inc.