Layered growth of crayfish gastrolith: About the stability of amorphous calcium carbonate and role of additives

Wouter J.E.M. Habraken, Admir Masic, Luca Bertinetti, Ali Al-Sawalmih, Lilah Glazer, Shmuel Bentov, Peter Fratzl, Amir Sagi, Barbara Aichmayer, Amir Berman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Previous studies on pre-molt gastroliths have shown a typical onion-like morphology of layers of amorphous mineral (mostly calcium carbonate) and chitin, resulting from the continuous deposition and densification of amorphous mineral spheres on a chitin-matrix during time. To investigate the consequences of this layered growth on the local structure and composition of the gastrolith, we performed spatially-resolved Raman, X-ray and SEM-EDS analysis on complete pre-molt gastrolith cross-sections. Results show that especially the abundance of inorganic phosphate, phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP)/citrate and proteins is not uniform throughout the organ but changes from layer to layer. Based on these results we can conclude that ACC stabilization in the gastrolith takes place by more than one compound and not by only one of these additives.

Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)28-36
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Structural Biology
Volume189
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2015

Keywords

  • Amorphous calcium carbonate
  • Crayfish
  • Gastrolith
  • Hierarchical organization
  • Stabilization

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Structural Biology

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