Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 105, Issue 35, Pages 12748-12753Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0803354105
Keywords
biomineralization; fish fin
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Funding
- Israel Ministry of Science and Education
- Israeli Council for Higher Education
- Minerva Foundation
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A fundamental question in biomineralization is the nature of the first-formed mineral phase. In vertebrate bone formation, this issue has been the subject of a long-standing controversy. We address this key issue using the continuously growing fin bony rays of the Tuebingen long-fin zebrafish as a model for bone mineralization. Employing high-resolution scanning and transmission electron microscopy imaging, electron diffraction, and elemental analysis, we demonstrate the presence of an abundant amorphous calcium phosphate phase in the newly formed fin bones. The extracted amorphous mineral particles crystallize with time, and mineral crystallinity increases during bone maturation. Based on these findings, we propose that this amorphous calcium phosphate phase may be a precursor phase that later transforms into the mature crystalline mineral.
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