Of the intriguing topics that are receiving renewed attention nowadays, the study of the
“triangle” biomineralization/demineralization/remineralization is among the most fascinating …

Covering: up to 2007 Biosilicification is an evolutionarily old and widespread type of
biomineralization both in unicellular and multicellular organisms, including sponges …

Diatoms, shells, bones and teeth are exquisite examples of well-defined structures,
arranged from nanometre to macroscopic length scale, produced by natural …

Despite its inherent mechanical fragility, silica is widely used as a skeletal material in a great
diversity of organisms ranging from diatoms and radiolaria to sponges and higher plants. In …

Fossils are essential to the reconstruction of the evolution of life and episodes in Earth
history. Knowledge of biomineralization-the processes associated with the formation of …

Sponges (Porifera) are presently gaining increased scientific attention because of their
secondary metabolites and specific skeleton structures. In contrast to demosponges, whose …

Silicateins are proteins with catalytic, structure-directing activity that are responsible for silica
biosynthesis in certain sponges; they are the constituents of macroscopic protein filaments …

Biomineralization is an evolutionarily ancient phenomenon and one of the fundamental
biological processes by which living organisms produce minerals with multifunctional …

Although the use of silicon dioxide (silica) as a constituent of living organisms is mainly
restricted to diatoms and sponges, the ways in which this process is controlled by nature …

The inorganic matrix of the siliceous skeletal elements of sponges, that is, spicules, is
formed of amorphous biosilica. Until a decade ago, it remained unclear how the hard …