On the biophysical regulation of mineral growth: Standing out from the crowd

Abstract

Biogenic mineralization processes are generally regulated by soluble additives and insoluble matrices. This endows precise control over the different stages of mineralization such as the uptake, transport of mineral precursors as well as the subsequent deposition of the mineral phases with consistent compositions and morphologies. Programmed in the interactions of organic molecules with different precursor species and the fine modulation of the niche environments, a formative elegance is reflected in the biological means for crystal formation in comparison to the synthetic counterparts. In order to spotlight the role of prevalent biophysical environments in the emergence of fascinating materials, we revisit biologically modulated mineralization to describe nucleation and crystallization under physicochemical highly non-ideal conditions on account of macromolecular crowding and the gel-like nature of cellular matrices.

Keywords: Biomineralization; Biomolecules; Crystallization; Gel; Matrix; Molecular crowding; Non-ideality; Nucleation.