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7875074 
Journal Article 
Biological control of aragonite formation in stony corals 
Von Euw, S; Zhang, Q; Manichev, V; Murali, N; Gross, J; Feldman, LC; Gustafsson, T; Flach, C; Mendelsohn, R; Falkowski, PG 
2017 
1 
Science
ISSN: 0036-8075
EISSN: 1095-9203 
American Association for the Advancement of Science 
356 
6341 
933-938 
English 
28572387 
WOS:000402552300030 
Little is known about how stony corals build their calcareous skeletons. There are two prevailing hypotheses: that it is a physicochemically dominated process and that it is a biologically mediated one. Using a combination of ultrahigh-resolution three-dimensional imaging and two-dimensional solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, we show that mineral deposition is biologically driven. Randomly arranged, amorphous nanoparticles are initially deposited in microenvironments enriched in organic material; they then aggregate and form ordered aragonitic structures through crystal growth by particle attachment. Our NMR results are consistent with heterogeneous nucleation of the solid mineral phase driven by coral acid-rich proteins. Such a mechanism suggests that stony corals may be able to sustain calcification even under lower pH conditions that do not favor the inorganic precipitation of aragonite. 
acid; bicarbonate; calcium carbonate; mineral; nanoparticle; calcium carbonate; carbonic acid derivative; aragonite; biological control; calcification; coral; nanoparticle; nuclear magnetic resonance; precipitation (chemistry); protein; skeleton; three-dimensional modeling; two-dimensional modeling; Article; biomineralization; chemical composition; chemical environment; coral; crystallization; electron microscopy; microenvironment; nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy; pH; precipitation; priority journal; Raman spectrometry; scanning electron microscopy; scanning helium ion microscopy; solid; Stylophora pistillata; three dimensional imaging; animal; Anthozoa; bone mineralization; growth, development and aging; metabolism; nonlinear optical microscopy; physiology; tumor microenvironment; ultrastructure; Anthozoa; Scleractinia; Animals; Anthozoa; Calcification, Physiologic; Calcium Carbonate; Carbonates; Cellular Microenvironment; Crystallization; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; Nonlinear Optical Microscopy