Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T13:15:53.047Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Biomineralisation in the context of geological time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

K. Simkiss
K. Simkiss
Affiliation:
Department of Pure and Applied Zoology, University of Reading, P.O. Box 228, Reading RG6 2AJ, U.K.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The basic properties of living systems are remarkably consistent and involve energy interactions between intracellular and extracellular environments. These interactions predispose living systems to deposit minerals from many solutions. The evolution of biomineralisation was not a single cellular invention but rather the association and perfection of a few of these fundamental properties of cell biology. The components of biomineralisation systems involve some mechanism for modifying the activity of at least one ion, an interface for initiating and possibly controlling crystal growth, a diffusion limited size and a mechanism for manipulating the growth of the crystal lattice. The evolution of these components of biomineralisation in the context of geological time inevitably concentrates on the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary. Over a time scale of less than 50 × 106 years there was a proliferation of metazoan phyla, the mineralisation in a large number of taxa and the exploitation of a diverse set of processes involving agglutinated sediments, silica, phosphates and carbonates. A large number of theories have been proposed to explain why biomineralisation occurred at this particular time. Such theories should recognise the importance of the incorporation of the citric acid cycle into the cellular metabolism of many organisms and its exploitation in an aerobic environment, the development of multicellularity which enormously increased the opportunities for modifying ion activities in diffusion-limited sites, and the exploitation of browsing and carnivorous feeding habits. These influences had major effects on ecosystems and population structures and put considerable selective pressure on the advantages that could be gained from a skeleton.

Keywords

cell biologyevolutionPrecambrian–Cambrian boundarytheories of biomineralisation
Type
Evolution of the Earth's environment through time
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 80 , Issue 3-4: Environments and Physiology of Fossil Organisms , 1989 , pp. 193 - 199
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Benson, S., Sucov, H., Stephens, L., Davidson, E. & Wilt, F. 1987. A lineage-specific gene encoding a major matrix protein of the sea urchin embryo spicule. DEVELOP BIOL 120, 499–506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berkner, L. V. & Marshall, L. C. 1965. On the origin and rise of oxygen concentration in the earth's atmosphere. J ATMOS SCI 22, 225–261.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berman, A., Addadi, L. & Weiner, S. 1988. Interactions of sea-urchin skeleton macromolecules with growing calcite crystals—a study of intracrystalline proteins. NATURE LONDON 331, 546–548.Google Scholar
Brasier, M. D. 1979. The Cambrian radiation event. In House, M. R. (ed.) The origin of major invertebrate groups. SYST ASSOC SPEC VOL 12, 103–159. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Chalker, B. E. & Taylor, D. L. 1975. Light-enhanced calcification and the role of oxidative phosphylation in calcification of the coral Acropora cervicornis. PROC R SOC LONDON B190, 323–331.Google Scholar
Cloud, J. 1976. Beginnings of biosperic evolution and their biogeochemical consequences. PALEOBIOLOGY 2, 351–387.Google Scholar
Cook, P. J. & Shergold, J. H. 1984. Phosphorus, phosphorites, and skeletal evolution at the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary. NATURE LONDON 308, 231–236.Google Scholar
Erez, J. 1983. Calcification rates, photosynthesis & light in planktonic foraminifera. In Westbroek, P. & de Jong, E. W. (eds) Biomineralization & biological metal accumulation, 307–321. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.Google Scholar
Gest, H. 1987. Evolutionary roots of the citric acid cycle in prokaryotes. BIOCHEM SOC SYMP 54, 3–16.Google Scholar
Kazmierczak, J. & Degens, E. T. 1986. Calcium and the early eurkaryotes. MIT GEOL-PALAEONTOL INST UNIV HAMBURG 61, 1–20.Google Scholar
Kempe, S. & Degens, E. T. 1985. An early soda ocean? CHEM GEOL 53, 95–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lovelock, J. 1979. Gaia. A new look at life on earth. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lowenstam, H. A. 1981. Minerals formed by organisms. SCIENCE 211, 1126–1131.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lowenstam, H. A. & Margulis, L. 1980. Evolutionary prerequisites for early Phanerozoic calcareous skeletons. BIOSYSTEMS 12, 27–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lowenstam, H. A. & Weiner, S. 1983. Mineralization by organisms and the evolution of biomineralization. In Westbroek, P. & de Jong, E. W. (eds) Biomineralization & biological metal accumulation, 191–203. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.Google Scholar
Muyzer, G., Westbroek, P., de Vrind, J. P. M., Tanke, J., Vrijheid, T. & Wehmiller, J. F. 1984. Immunology & organic geochemistry. ORG GEOCHEM 6, 847–855.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pedersen, P. L. & Carafoli, E. 1987. Ion-motive ATPases 1. Ubiquity, properties & significance to cell function. TRENDS BIOCHEM SCI 12, 146–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raff, R. A. & Raff, E. C. 1970. Respiratory mechanisms and the metazoan fossil record. NATURE LONDON 228, 1003–1005.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raven, J. A. 1983. The transport and function of silicon in plants. BIOL REV 58, 179–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riding, R. 1982. Cyanophyte calcification and changes in ocean chemistry. NATURE LONDON 299, 814–815.Google Scholar
Runnegar, B. 1986. Molecular palaeontology. PALAEONTOLOGY 29, 1–24.Google Scholar
Schauf, C. L. 1987. Ion channel diversity: a revolution in biology? SCI PROG OXFORD 71, 459–478.Google Scholar
Schopf, J. W. & Oehler, D. Z. 1976. How old are the eukaryotes? SCIENCE 193, 47–49.Google Scholar
Schidlowski, M. 1988. A 3,800-million-year isotopic record of life from carbon in sedimentary rocks. NATURE LONDON 333, 313–318.Google Scholar
Simkiss, K. 1964. Phosphates as crystal poisons of calcification. BIOL REV 39, 487–505.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simkiss, K. 1986. The processes of biomineralization in lower plants and animals—an overview. In Leadbeater, B. S. C. & Riding, R. (eds) Biomineralization in lower plants and animals. SYST ASSOC SPEC VOL 30, 19–37.Google Scholar
Stanley, S. M. 1976a. Fossil data and the Precambrian–Cambrian evolutionary transition. AM J SCI 276, 56–76.Google Scholar
Stanley, S. M. 1976b. Ideas on the timing of metazoan diversification. PALEOBIOLOGY 2, 209–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Towe, K. M. 1970. Oxygen-collagen priority and the early metazoan fossil record. PROC. NAT ACAD SCI 65, 781–788.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Towe, K. M. 1981. Biochemical keys to the emergence of complex life. In Billingham, J. (ed.) Life in the universe, 297–306. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Towe, K. M. 1989. Early biochemical innovations, oxygen, and earth history. In Broadhead, T. W. (ed.) Molecular Evolution and the Fossil Record. PALAEONTOL SOC (in press).Google Scholar
Weiner, S. 1983. Mollusc shell formation: isolation of two organic proteins associated with calcite deposition in the bivalve Mytilus californiancis. BIOCHEMISTRY 22, 4139–4144.Google Scholar
Weiner, S. 1986. Organization of extracellularly mineralized tissues. A comparative study of biological crystal growth. CRIT REV BIOCHEM 20, 365–408.Google Scholar
Wilson, A. C., Carlson, S. S. & White, T. J. 1977. Biochemical evolution. ANN REV BIOCHEM 46, 573–639.Google Scholar