Coral Biomineralization via Amorphous Calcium Carbonate Particle Attachment

ORAL

Abstract

New evidence suggests corals form their skeletons via particle attachment of amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) precursors.1 Evidence for this comes from photoemission electron spectromicroscopy (PEEM) and polarization-dependent imaging contrast (PIC)-mapping.1,2 Coral growth was previously thought to occur via ion-by-ion growth.1 Elemental and isotopic ratios show vital effects in corals, indicating ion-by-ion growth is not a suitable mechanism for skeletal growth. Furthermore, ion-by-ion growth is relatively slow compared to ACC particle attachment, which could have physiological advantages.1 The current viewpoint of skeletal growth by particle attachment of amorphous calcium carbonate precursors could shed light on this highly debated topic as well as elucidate a mechanism of biomineralization.1 Thus far this formation mechanism has been demonstrated in only one species, Stylophora pistillata. But is it general? In this talk I will briefly review recent results and discuss future planned experiments to probe how other species of corals form their skeletons.

(1) T Mass et al. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 114, 37 2017, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1707890114
(2) MA Marcus et al. ACS Nano in press 2017, DOI:10.1021/acsnano.7b05044

*Supported by DOE grant DE-FG02- 07ER15899 and NSF grant DMR-1603192

–

Presenters

  • Christopher Colla

    • Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Authors

  • Christopher Colla

    • Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison

  • Tali Mass

    • Marine Biology Department, University of Haifa

  • Anthony Giuffre

    • Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison

  • Chang-Yu Sun

    • Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison
    • Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin–Madison
    • Physics, Chemistry, Geoscience, Univ of Wisconsin
    • University of Wisconsin-Madison

  • Cayla Stifler

    • Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison
    • Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin–Madison
    • Physics, Chemistry, Geoscience, Univ of Wisconsin

  • Matthew Frazier

    • Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison

  • Maayan Neder

    • Marine Biology Department, University of Haifa

  • Nobumichi Tamura

    • Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    • Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory

  • Camelia Stan

    • Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

  • Matthew Marcus

    • Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

  • Pupa Gilbert

    • Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Geoscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison
    • Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison
    • Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin–Madison
    • Physics, Chemistry, Geoscience, Univ of Wisconsin
    • Departments of Chemistry, Materials Science, and Geoscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison
    • University of Wisconsin-Madison
    • Univ of Wisconsin, Madison