Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: O) and anhydrous calcium carbonate (ACC), have been observed spectromicroscopically in echinoderms, mollusks, and cnidarians, phyla drawn from the 3 major clades of eumetazoans. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) here also shows evidence of CPA in tunicate chordates. This is surprising, as species in these clades have no common ancestor that formed a mineralized skeleton and appear to have evolved carbonate biomineralization independently millions of years after their late Neoproterozoic divergence. Here we correlate the occurrence of CPA from ACC precursor particles with nanoparticulate fabric and then use the latter to investigate the antiquity of the former. SEM images of early biominerals from Ediacaran and Cambrian shelly fossils show that these early calcifiers used attachment of ACC particles to form their biominerals. The convergent evolution of biomineral CPA may have been dictated by the same thermodynamics and kinetics as we observe today.
Language: English
Subfield: Biomaterials
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Awards: G222768804, MAPPING OF TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL PHASE TRANSITIONS OF CACO3 IN ECHINODERM SKELETONS: KEY INSIGHTS INTO BASIC MECHANISMS IN BIOMINERALIZATION, MAPPING OF TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL PHASE TRANSITIONS OF CAC03 IN ECHINODERM SKELETONS: KEY INSIGHTS..., G5648016710, G5912748570, G7057920781, Discovery of New Phenomena in Biomineral Formation, G96172096
OpenAlex ID: W2969964692