RT Journal Article
T1 Transformation of ACC into aragonite and the origin of thenanogranular structure of nacre
A1 Macías-Sánchez, Elena
A1 Willinger, Marc G.
A1 Pina Martínez, Carlos Manuel
A1 Checa, Antonio G.
AB Currently a basic tenet in biomineralization is that biominerals grow by accretion of amorphous particles, which are later transformed into the corresponding mineral phase. The globular nanostructure of most biominerals is taken as evidence of this. Nevertheless, little is known as to how the amorphousto-crystalline transformation takes place. To gain insight into this process, we have made a highresolution study (by means of transmission electron microscopy and other associated techniques) of immature tablets of nacre of the gastropod Phorcus turbinatus, where the proportion of amorphous calcium carbonate is high. Tablets displayed a characteristic nanoglobular structure, with the nanoglobules consisting of an aragonite core surrounded by amorphous calcium carbonate together with organic macromolecules. The changes in composition from the amorphous to the crystalline phase indicate that there was a higher content of organic molecules within the former phase. Within single tablets, the crystalline cores were largely co-oriented. According to their outlines, the internal transformation front of the tablets took on a complex digitiform shape, with the individual fingers constituting the crystalline cores of nanogranules. We propose that the final nanogranular structure observed is produced during the transformation of ACC into aragonite.
PB Nature Publishing Group
SN 2045-2322
YR 2017
FD 2017
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/18765
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/18765
LA eng
NO Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO)/FEDER
NO Junta de Andalucía
NO Universidad de Granada
DS Docta Complutense
RD 20 abr 2025