Biomineralisation

Citation maintenance. Please you see. Any concerns? Please . Biomineralisation is the process by which living organisms produce minerals, often to harden or stiffen existing tissues. Examples include silicates in algae, carbonates in diatoms and invertebrates, and calcium phosphates and carbonates in vertebrates. These minerals often form structural features such as sea shells and the bone in mammals and birds. Organisms have been producing mineralised skeletons for the past 550 million years. Other examples include copper, iron and gold deposits involving bacteria. As a result biomineralization is employed in metal extraction.

The aim of biomimetics is to mimic the natural way of producing minerals such as apatites. Many man-made crystals require elevated temperatures and strong chemical solutions whereas the organisms have long been able to lay down elaborate mineral structures at ambient temperatures. Often the mineral phases are not pure but are made as composites which entail an organic part, often protein, which takes part in and controls the biomineralisation. These composites are often not only as hard as the pure mineral but also tougher, as at last, the micro-environment controls biomineralisation.

Biominerals generally consist of either calcium, iron, or silicon. The hardness of biominerals depends on both the degree of mineralisation (i.e., structure) and the type of mineral.

See also

* Diatomaceous earth
* Magnetotactic bacteria
* Biocrystallization

References

* cite journal
author=Addadi, L. and S. Weiner
title=Control And Design Principles In Biological Mineralization
journal=Angewandte Chemie International Edition in English
year=1992
volume=31
issue=2
pages=153–169
url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/106587877/ABSTRACT?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
doi=10.1002/anie.199201531
format=abstract

* cite journal
author=Boskey, A.L.
title=Biomineralization: An overview
journal=Connective Tissue Research
year=2003
volume=44
issue=Supplement 1
pages=5–9
doi=10.1080/713713622 PMID 12952166

* cite journal
author=McPhee, Joseph
title=The Little Workers of the Mining Industry
journal=Science Creative Quarterly
year=2006
issue=2
url=http://www.scq.ubc.ca/?p=342
accessdate = 2006-11-03

* cite journal
author=Schmittner, Karl-Erich and Giresse, Pierre
title=Micro-environmental controls on biomineralization: superficial processes of apatite and calcite precipitation in Quaternary soils, Roussillon, France
journal=Sedimentology
year=1999
volume=46
issue=3
pages=463–476
doi=10.1046/j.1365-3091.1999.00224.x

* cite journal
author=Weiner, S. and L. Addadi
title=Design strategies in mineralized biological materials
journal=Journal of Materials Chemistry
year=1997
volume=7
issue=5
pages=689–702
doi = 10.1039/a604512j
url=http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/Journals/JM/article.asp?doi=a604512j
accessdate = 2006-11-03

* cite journal
author= Dauphin, Y.
title=Biomineralization
journal=Encyclopedia of Inorganic Chemistry (R.B. King ed)., Wiley & Sons
year=2005
volume=1
pages=391–404

* cite journal
author= Cuif, J.P. and Sorauf, J.E.
title=Biomineralization and diagenesis in the Scleractinia : part I, biomineralization
journal=Bull. Tohoku Univ. Museum,
year=2001
volume=1
pages=144–151

* cite journal
author= Dauphin, Y.
title=Structures, organo mineral compositions and diagenetic changes in biominerals
journal=Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science
year=2002
volume=7
pages=133–138
doi=10.1016/S1359-0294(02)00013-4

External links

* [http://www.scq.ubc.ca/?p=342 An overview of the bacteria involved in biomineralization from the Science Creative Quarterly]

* [http://biomin.geol.u-psud.fr] http://biomin.geol.u-psud.fr

* [http://biocalc.geol.u-psud,fr] http://biocalc.geol.u-psud.fr