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Calcite orientations and composition ranges within teeth across Echinoidea.

Stuart R Stock1, Konstantin Ignatiev, Peter L Lee

  • 1Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Biological Chemistry, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University , Chicago, IL , USA and.

Connective Tissue Research
|August 27, 2014
PubMed
Summary

Sea urchin teeth reveal a primitive biomineralization process across diverse species. Their high and very high magnesium calcite phases share crystallographic orientations, indicating an ancient, conserved biological mechanism.

Keywords:
BiomineralizationX-ray diffractioncalcitesea urchinsynchrotron radiationteeth

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Area of Science:

  • Biomineralization
  • Paleontology
  • Materials Science

Background:

  • Sea urchin teeth are complex biomineral structures.
  • Understanding their formation provides insights into evolutionary processes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the crystallographic orientation of mineral phases in sea urchin teeth.
  • To determine if observed orientations are conserved across different sea urchin orders.
  • To elucidate the primitive nature of sea urchin biomineralization.

Main Methods:

  • Synchrotron X-ray diffraction was used to analyze sea urchin teeth.
  • Teeth from four families of Echinoida and orders Temnopleuroida, Arbacioida, and Cidaroida were examined.

Main Results:

  • High and very high Mg-calcite phases in sea urchin teeth exhibit identical crystallographic orientations.
  • This co-orientation, attributed to epitaxy, is consistent across the phylogenetic breadth of extant regular sea urchins.
  • The compositional range (Δx) for the two phases (Ca1-xMgxCO3) is approximately 0.20 or greater.

Conclusions:

  • The co-orientation of mineral phases is a primitive character in regular sea urchins.
  • This finding suggests a common and ancient biomineralization process.
  • Epitaxy plays a crucial role in the structural organization of sea urchin teeth.