A nacre protein forms mesoscale hydrogels that "hijack" the biomineralization process within a seawater environment

This journal is © 2016 The Royal Society of Chemistry.We examined the mineralization performance of a nacre protein, AP7, within seawater mineralization assays that form aragonite and magnesium calcite. Under these conditions AP7 forms hydrogel particles that vary in size and complexity depending up...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Pendola, M., Jain, G., Davidyants, A., Huang, Y., Gebauer, Denis, Evans, J.
Format: Journal Article
Published: The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/52259
Description
Summary:This journal is © 2016 The Royal Society of Chemistry.We examined the mineralization performance of a nacre protein, AP7, within seawater mineralization assays that form aragonite and magnesium calcite. Under these conditions AP7 forms hydrogel particles that vary in size and complexity depending upon ionic conditions. These hydrogels "hijack" the mineralization process by limiting nucleation in bulk solution and promoting nucleation within the hydrogels.