Month: September 2022

ENERGETICS. "There seems to be a minimum energy cost of 1.5 mol ATP per mol CaCO3 deposited. This involves a photon cost of 1.71 photons per CaCO3 with cyclic electron flow generating ATP, i.e. 11% of the cost of photosynthetic growth...the calcification cost is 19% that of photosynthetic growth." https://lnkd.in/e2i9eMi View in LinkedIn

CONCLUSION. "This analysis suggests that calcification is unlikely to be a major energy sink for excess (to photosynthesis) excitation energy in photosynthesis. Coccolithophores are generally characterised as not being very susceptible to photoinhibition." https://lnkd.in/e2i9eMi View in LinkedIn

GREAT VARIETY. "Different groups of algae form CaCO3 in strikingly different ways, and the cellular sites of calcification can be either internal or external, suggesting that calcification mechanisms evolved independently in different groups." https://lnkd.in/eXTtntg View in LinkedIn

NANOFABRICATION. "Despite their small size (1−10 μm across), coccoliths are remarkably elaborate biomineral structures characterized by precise control of both nucleation and growth of calcite by the organic system...Calcification in coccolithophores occurs primarily in Golgi-derived vesicles." https://lnkd.in/eUUB9pU View in LinkedIn

NANOFABRICATION. "Despite their small size (1−10 μm across), coccoliths are remarkably elaborate biomineral structures characterized by precise control of both nucleation and growth of calcite by the organic system...Calcification in coccolithophores occurs primarily in Golgi-derived vesicles." https://lnkd.in/eUUB9pU View in LinkedIn

MASS PRODUCTION. "Estimates of coccolith formation in E. huxleyi have shown that approximately one coccolith can be formed per hour." https://lnkd.in/eXTtntg View in LinkedIn

HYBRID SYNTHESIS. "During biologically controlled synthesis of inorganic materials, inorganic phases grow within or on organic matrix or vesicles inside the cell, allowing the organism to exert a strict control over the composition, grain size, habit, and intracellular or surface location of the produced minerals." https://lnkd.in/es5DATt View in LinkedIn

BIOMINERALIZATION CONTROL. "Examples of such synthesis include silica biosynthesis in diatoms, sponges and radiolarians, calcareous structures in coccoliths, gypsum in S-layer bacteria and the nanocrystals of magnetite and greigite in magnetotactic bacteria." https://lnkd.in/es5DATt View in LinkedIn

EXQUISITE CONTROL. "These examples demonstrate that organisms are able to control the location and crystallographic orientation of nucleation, the shape of the growing crystallites, and even the phase of the resulting material." https://lnkd.in/eVX4ANS View in LinkedIn

CRYSTAL GROWTH. "Regulation of calcite growth by coccolithophores is almost as remarkable as the regulation of nucleation. The crystal units...are each single crystals of calcite, and their shapes are radically different from that of inorganic calcite. However, such crystals do not exist in isolation, but are parts of the complete coccolith, and much of the morphology is a product of interaction between adjacent crystals." https://lnkd.in/eUUB9pU View in LinkedIn