Covalent modification of chitin with silk-derivatives acts as an amphiphilic self-organizing template in nacre biomineralisation Export

@article{citeulike:5100126, abstract = {Molluscs have a well-deserved reputation for being expert mineralizers of various shell types such as nacre. Nacre is defined as regularly arranged layers and stacks of 0.5 μm thick aragonite platelets that are extracellularly formed within a complex mixture of organic matrix. The control of species-specific layer thickness by the animal is still enigmatic. Despite the recent findings on the periodic layer-by-layer structures of chitin layers and silk-like protein layers in nacre-type biominerals, little is known about how the interface is defined between two different layers. In this paper, we demonstrate the presence of covalently attached, hydrophobic amino acid side chains in the chitin matrix in the bivalve mollusc Mytilus galloprovincialis by the combination of infrared spectroscopy and mass spectroscopy. The accumulation of the modified chitin matrix at the interface is quantified by the critical aggregate concentration of the purified chitin matrix, which is approximately an order of magnitude smaller than that of pure chitin. Our finding suggests an active role of such chemically modified chito-oligosaccharides in the creation of a defined interface and guidance of the periodic matrix textures, which would result in unique material properties of natural mollusc shells.}, author = {Weiss, Ingrid M. and Kaufmann, Stefan and Heiland, Birgit and Tanaka, Motomu}, citeulike-article-id = {5100126}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsb.2009.04.005}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1047847709001129}, doi = {10.1016/j.jsb.2009.04.005}, issn = {10478477}, journal = {Journal of Structural Biology}, keywords = {chitin}, month = {July}, number = {1}, pages = {68--75}, posted-at = {2009-10-28 11:51:27}, priority = {2}, title = {Covalent modification of chitin with silk-derivatives acts as an amphiphilic self-organizing template in nacre biomineralisation}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsb.2009.04.005}, volume = {167}, year = {2009} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:5100126 L3 - citeulike-article-id:5100126 N2 - Molluscs have a well-deserved reputation for being expert mineralizers of various shell types such as nacre. Nacre is defined as regularly arranged layers and stacks of 0.5 μm thick aragonite platelets that are extracellularly formed within a complex mixture of organic matrix. The control of species-specific layer thickness by the animal is still enigmatic. Despite the recent findings on the periodic layer-by-layer structures of chitin layers and silk-like protein layers in nacre-type biominerals, little is known about how the interface is defined between two different layers. In this paper, we demonstrate the presence of covalently attached, hydrophobic amino acid side chains in the chitin matrix in the bivalve mollusc Mytilus galloprovincialis by the combination of infrared spectroscopy and mass spectroscopy. The accumulation of the modified chitin matrix at the interface is quantified by the critical aggregate concentration of the purified chitin matrix, which is approximately an order of magnitude smaller than that of pure chitin. Our finding suggests an active role of such chemically modified chito-oligosaccharides in the creation of a defined interface and guidance of the periodic matrix textures, which would result in unique material properties of natural mollusc shells. IS - 1 JF - Journal of Structural Biology SN - 10478477 EP - 75 TI - Covalent modification of chitin with silk-derivatives acts as an amphiphilic self-organizing template in nacre biomineralisation VL - 167 SP - 68 KW - chitin AU - Weiss, Ingrid AU - Kaufmann, Stefan AU - Heiland, Birgit AU - Tanaka, Motomu PY - 2009/07// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsb.2009.04.005 ER -