TY - JOUR
T1 - Enamel-like apatite crown covering amorphous mineral in a crayfish mandible
AU - Bentov, Shmuel
AU - Zaslansky, Paul
AU - Al-Sawalmih, Ali
AU - Masic, Admir
AU - Fratzl, Peter
AU - Sagi, Amir
AU - Berman, Amir
AU - Aichmayer, Barbara
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Oskar Paris, Stefan Siegel and Chenghao Li for support during the scanning WAXS measurements at the µ-Spot beamline and Heinrich Riesemeier and Bernd Müller for kindly providing access to the BAMline beamline, both of the BESSY II storage ring, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin. We thank Andy Fitch for help in performing the high-resolution powder diffraction experiments at beamline ID31, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Grenoble and Igor Zlotnikov for support in the evaluation of the Nanoindentation measurements. We acknowledge financial support from the German Israeli Foundation (GIF), Research Grant No. 950-9.5/2007 and a grant from the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev. A.M., P.Z. and P.F. are grateful for support by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Max Planck Society in the framework of the Max Planck Research Award funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany.
PY - 2012/10/17
Y1 - 2012/10/17
N2 - Carbonated hydroxyapatite is the mineral found in vertebrate bones and teeth, whereas invertebrates utilize calcium carbonate in their mineralized organs. In particular, stable amorphous calcium carbonate is found in many crustaceans. Here we report on an unusual, crystalline enamel-like apatite layer found in the mandibles of the arthropod Cherax quadricarinatus (freshwater crayfish). Despite their very different thermodynamic stabilities, amorphous calcium carbonate, amorphous calcium phosphate, calcite and fluorapatite coexist in well-defined functional layers in close proximity within the mandible. The softer amorphous minerals are found primarily in the bulk of the mandible whereas apatite, the harder and less soluble mineral, forms a wear-resistant, enamel-like coating of the molar tooth. Our findings suggest a unique case of convergent evolution, where similar functional challenges of mastication led to independent developments of structurally and mechanically similar, apatite-based layers in the teeth of genetically remote phyla: vertebrates and crustaceans.
AB - Carbonated hydroxyapatite is the mineral found in vertebrate bones and teeth, whereas invertebrates utilize calcium carbonate in their mineralized organs. In particular, stable amorphous calcium carbonate is found in many crustaceans. Here we report on an unusual, crystalline enamel-like apatite layer found in the mandibles of the arthropod Cherax quadricarinatus (freshwater crayfish). Despite their very different thermodynamic stabilities, amorphous calcium carbonate, amorphous calcium phosphate, calcite and fluorapatite coexist in well-defined functional layers in close proximity within the mandible. The softer amorphous minerals are found primarily in the bulk of the mandible whereas apatite, the harder and less soluble mineral, forms a wear-resistant, enamel-like coating of the molar tooth. Our findings suggest a unique case of convergent evolution, where similar functional challenges of mastication led to independent developments of structurally and mechanically similar, apatite-based layers in the teeth of genetically remote phyla: vertebrates and crustaceans.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84864310352&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/ncomms1839
DO - 10.1038/ncomms1839
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84864310352
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 3
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
M1 - 839
ER -