Synthetic fossilization of soft biological tissues and their shape-preserving transformation into silica or electron-conductive replicas.

ABSTRACT: Structural preservation of complex biological systems from the subcellular to whole organism level in robust forms, enabling dissection and imaging while preserving 3D context, represents an enduring grand challenge in biology. Here we report a simple immersion method for structurally preserving intact organisms via conformal stabilization within silica. This self-limiting process, which we refer to as silica bioreplication, occurs by condensation of water-soluble silicic acid proximally to biomolecular interfaces throughout the organism. Conformal nanoscopic silicification of all biomolecular features imparts structural rigidity enabling the preservation of shape and nano-to-macroscale dimensional features upon drying to form a biocomposite and further high temperature oxidative calcinati

SUBMITTER: Townson JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4268709 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature