Journal
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
Volume 18, Issue 15, Pages 2172-2179Publisher
WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH
DOI: 10.1002/adfm.200701130
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Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [NSFC 20525414]
- New Century Excellent Talents in University of China (NCET)
- Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in Fudan University
- Royal Society of London
- European Commission [COOP.CT-2005-018060]
- US-AFOSR [F49620-03-1-0111]
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Mollusk shell is one of the best studied of all calcium carbonate biominerals. Its silk-like binder-matrix protein plays a pivotal role during the formation of aragonite crystals in the nacre sheets. Here, we provide novel experimental insights into the interaction of mineral and protein compounds using a model system of reconstituted Bombyx mori silk fibroin solutions serving as templates for the crystallization of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). We observed that the inherent (self-assembling) aggregation process of silk fibroin molecules affected both the morphology and crystallographic polymorph of CaCO3 aggregates. This combination fostered the growth of a novel, rice-grain-shaped protein/mineral hybrid with a hollow structure with an aragonite polymorph formed after ripening. Our observations suggest new hypotheses about the role of silk-like protein in the natural biomineralization process, but it may also serve to shed light on the formation process of those 'ersatz' hybrids regulated by artificially selected structural proteins.
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