A bivalve biomineralization toolbox

Early Stage Biomineralization in the Periostracum of the ‘Living Fossil’ Bivalve Neotrigonia

A detailed investigation of the shell formation of the palaeoheterodont 'living fossil' Neotrigonia concentrated on the timing and manufacture of the calcified 'bosses' which stud the outside of all trigonioid bivalves (extant and fossil) has been conducted. Electron microscopy and optical microscopy revealed that Neotrigonia spp. have a spiral-shaped periostracal groove. The periostracum itsel...

Electromembrane Processes, a Toolbox for Advanced Separations

Biomineralization: Micelles in a crystal.

to fit the nucleus of the cubic polymorph (Fig. 2b). Conversely, the nucleus of a triclinic crystal would be a poor fit to pores with right-angled corners because the crystal would need to incorporate either strain or defects. As a consequence, right-angled pores should selectively favour nucleation of the cubic polymorph. Another application of nanopatterned surfaces may be found in surface-in...

Bivalve genomics

Interest in bivalve genomics has emerged during the last decade, owing to the importance of these organisms in aquaculture and fisheries and to their role in marine environmental science. Knowledge of bivalve genome structure, function and evolution resulting from 20th century “single gene” approaches is limited, but genomic technologies are called to dramatically increase it. Research based on...

A Grand Unified Theory of Biomineralization

The geological record indicates that the major animal phyla began biomineralizing in a relatively short interval of time during the Cambrian evolutionary explosion, about 525 Myr ago. Because these phyla diverged well before this biomineralization event, it was triggered either by an unprecedented lateral genetic transfer, or was the result of parallel exaptation of an ancestral biomineral syst...