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Minerals
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Biomineral Crystal Structure
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Biomineral Crystal Structure

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Crystallography and Physical Chemistry of Minerals & Nanominerals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 December 2018) | Viewed by 31314

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Alberto Perez-Huerta

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
Interests: biomineralization; biogeochemistry; crystallography; microscopy; nanogeochemistry; electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD); atom probe tomography (APT); paleoecology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biomineralization—the formation of minerals by organisms—is a subject of significant interest in chemistry, structural biology, engineering, physics, and geology. The study of biominerals has been recently driven by the development of novel biomaterials and the application of biomineralization studies in medicine. Biomineralization research has placed an important emphasis in the analysis of biomineral formation, from the atomic scale to the macroscale assembly, resulting in complex hierarchical structures with excellent physico-chemical properties. Yet, our understanding of how organisms control the set of processes leading to the formation of biominerals is quite incomplete.

This Special Issue aims to bring together novel studies to elucidate the biological control on the biomineral crystal structure. Scientific contributions in the characterization and analysis of biominerals, including laboratory experiments and modeling leading to a better understanding of biomeral assembly, are welcomed for this Special Issue.

The first round submission deadline is: 30 June 2018

Prof. Dr. Alberto Perez-Huerta
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • biomineralization
  • crystallography
  • biological control
  • biochemistry
  • nano- and microstrcutures

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 8958 KiB  
Article
Revisiting the Organic Template Model through the Microstructural Study of Shell Development in Pinctada margaritifera, the Polynesian Pearl Oyster
by Jean-Pierre Cuif, Yannicke Dauphin, Gilles Luquet, Kadda Medjoubi, Andrea Somogyi and Alberto Perez-Huerta
Minerals 2018, 8(9), 370; https://doi.org/10.3390/min8090370 - 25 Aug 2018
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3988
Abstract
A top-down approach to the mineralized structures and developmental steps that can be separated in the shells of Pinctada margaritifera was carried out. Detailed characterizations show that each of the two major layers usually taken into account (the outer prismatic layer and the [...] Read more.
A top-down approach to the mineralized structures and developmental steps that can be separated in the shells of Pinctada margaritifera was carried out. Detailed characterizations show that each of the two major layers usually taken into account (the outer prismatic layer and the inner nacreous layer) is actually the result of a complex process during which the microstructural patterns were progressively established. From its early growing stages in the deeper part of the periostracal grove up to the formation of the most inner nacreous layers, this species provides a demonstrative case study illustrating the leading role of specifically secreted organic structures as determinants of the crystallographic properties of the shell-building units. Gathering data established at various observational scales ranging from morphology to the nanometer level, this study allows for a reexamination of the recent and current biomineralization models. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomineral Crystal Structure)
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19 pages, 6712 KiB  
Article
The Prismatic Layer of Pinna: A Showcase of Methodological Problems and Preconceived Hypotheses
by Yannicke Dauphin, Alain Brunelle, Kadda Medjoubi, Andrea Somogyi and Jean-Pierre Cuif
Minerals 2018, 8(9), 365; https://doi.org/10.3390/min8090365 - 22 Aug 2018
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4344
Abstract
The prismatic layer of Pinna (Mollusca) is one of the most studied models for the understanding of the biomineralization mechanisms, but our knowledge of the organic components of this layer is limited to the proteins of the soluble organic matrices. The interplay of [...] Read more.
The prismatic layer of Pinna (Mollusca) is one of the most studied models for the understanding of the biomineralization mechanisms, but our knowledge of the organic components of this layer is limited to the proteins of the soluble organic matrices. The interplay of the mineral and organic matrices is studied using scanning electron and atomic force microscopy, infra-red spectrometry, thermogravimetric analyses, aminoacids analyses, thin layer chromatography (TLC), X-ray fluorescence, X-ray Absorption near Edge Structure (XANES) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS). Proteins, polysaccharides and lipids are detected within the prisms and their envelopes. The role of the technical choices to study calcareous biominerals is evidenced, showing that a single analysis is not enough to decipher complex biominerals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomineral Crystal Structure)
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12 pages, 1741 KiB  
Article
Preliminary Data on the Nanoscale Chemical Characterization of the Inter-Crystalline Organic Matrix of a Calcium Carbonate Biomineral
by Alberto Pérez-Huerta and Fernando Laiginhas
Minerals 2018, 8(6), 223; https://doi.org/10.3390/min8060223 - 25 May 2018
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4207
Abstract
Chemical signatures of carbonate biominerals are important for understanding biomineral formation, and are a subject of great interest in geosciences for applications in paleoclimatology and paleoceanography. A prominent unknown factor is the chemistry of organic matrices, in particular that of the inter-crystalline fraction. [...] Read more.
Chemical signatures of carbonate biominerals are important for understanding biomineral formation, and are a subject of great interest in geosciences for applications in paleoclimatology and paleoceanography. A prominent unknown factor is the chemistry of organic matrices, in particular that of the inter-crystalline fraction. Here, we use atom probe tomography (APT) for the nanoscale chemical characterization of the mineral-organic interface in calcite from mussel shells. Our findings indicate that the quality of APT bulk chemistry results is highly dependent on sample preparation, yet data on biogenic calcite could be geochemically interpreted with confidence. Three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions of calcite tip specimens show the presence of organic matrix domains, characterized by the depletion of cations but enrichment in oxygen and carbon, and with at least 1% atomic increase in 16O relative to the surrounding mineral phase. This is the first relative, in-situ quantification of the chemical composition of the inter-crystalline organic matrix (IOM) for a carbonate biomineral, with implications for a better understanding of vital effects, proxy calibration, and the formation of these biocarbonates. Overall, our findings demonstrate the potential of nanoscale characterization of biominerals and their abiogenic counterparts to further advance our understanding of their chemistry. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomineral Crystal Structure)
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Review

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21 pages, 6959 KiB  
Review
Biomineralization Forming Process and Bio-inspired Nanomaterials for Biomedical Application: A Review
by Yuanyuan Chen, Yanmin Feng, John Gregory Deveaux, Mohamed Ahmed Masoud, Felix Sunata Chandra, Huawei Chen, Deyuan Zhang and Lin Feng
Minerals 2019, 9(2), 68; https://doi.org/10.3390/min9020068 - 23 Jan 2019
Cited by 85 | Viewed by 17912
Abstract
Biomineralization is a process in which organic matter and inorganic matter combine with each other under the regulation of living organisms. Because of the biomineralization-induced super survivability and retentivity, biomineralization has attracted special attention from biologists, archaeologists, chemists, and materials scientists for its [...] Read more.
Biomineralization is a process in which organic matter and inorganic matter combine with each other under the regulation of living organisms. Because of the biomineralization-induced super survivability and retentivity, biomineralization has attracted special attention from biologists, archaeologists, chemists, and materials scientists for its tracer and transformation effect in rock evolution study and nanomaterials synthesis. However, controlling the biomineralization process in vitro as precisely as intricate biology systems still remains a challenge. In this review, the regulating roles of temperature, pH, and organics in biominerals forming process were reviewed. The artificially introducing and utilization of biomineralization, the bio-inspired synthesis of nanomaterials, in biomedical fields was further discussed, mainly in five potential fields: drug and cell-therapy engineering, cancer/tumor target engineering, bone tissue engineering, and other advanced biomedical engineering. This review might help other interdisciplinary researchers to bionic-manufacture biominerals in molecular-level for developing more applications of biomineralization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomineral Crystal Structure)
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