Patterns of mineral organization in carbonate biological hard materials

Abstract

Organization of nanosized entities across many length scales poses a major challenge in the development and production of man-made materials with advanced functions. In contrast, in biologically formed hard tissues, this design feature and its formation principle is intrinsic. It began already with the emergence of first skeletal hard parts in late Precambrian and was diversified since then by evolutionary adaptation. In this concept article we describe nano-, meso- and macro scale biocarbonate mineral organization in biological hard tissues such as shells, calcite teeth and calcite intercalations into terrestrial isopod exocuticle. First, we highlight differences in extracellular matrix architectures and proceed to the interdigitation between biopolymer membranes/fibrils and biocarbonate mineral. Subsequently, we describe major types of fabrics and textures of mineral nanoparticles, crystallites and crystals in invertebrate hard tissues and discuss characteristic patterns of their organization on the different length scales. In the last part of this article we illustrate the utilization of carbonate mineral organization (texture) by the animal as a tool for habitat-adapted tailoring and functionalization of hard tissues.