The unique fibrilar to platy nano- and microstructure of twinned rotaliid foraminiferal shell calcite.

ABSTRACT: Diversification of biocrystal arrangements, incorporation of biopolymers at many scale levels and hierarchical architectures are keys for biomaterial optimization. The planktonic rotaliid foraminifer Pulleniatina obliquiloculata displays in its shell a new kind of mesocrystal architecture. Shell formation starts with crystallization of a rhizopodial network, the primary organic sheet (POS). On one side of the POS, crystals consist of blocky domains of 1 μm. On the other side of the POS crystals have dendritic-fractal morphologies, interdigitate and reach sizes of tens of micrometers. The dendritic-fractal crystals are twinned. At the site of nucleation, twinned crystals consist of minute fibrils. With distance away from the nucleation-site, fibrils evolve to bundles of crystallographically

SUBMITTER: Lastam J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9905586 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature