Synchrotron X-ray Fluorescence Microscopy Reveals Trace Elemental Indicators of Life History in Marsupial Teeth.

ABSTRACT: As teeth develop, their mineralised composition is a bio-recorder of diet, environment, and growth. High-resolution elemental mapping provides a tool to reveal records of life history within teeth. The relative concentrations of a range of trace elements change between in utero development, birth, and weaning in eutherian mammals. Marsupials, however, have a different mode of development: altricial birth and growth within the pouch facilitated by compositional transitions in milk. How these differences alter patterns of elemental mineralisation and become recorded in marsupial teeth is previously unknown. This study analyses the distribution of calcium (major element), zinc (actively incorporated trace element), and strontium (passively incorporated trace element) in the teeth of five spec

SUBMITTER: Parker WMG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12316728 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature