Science. 1993 Feb 5;259(5096):776-9. doi: 10.1126/science.259.5096.776.
Textures of calcite crystals from a variety of mineralized tissues belonging to organisms from four phyla were examined with high-resolution synchrotron x-ray radiation. Significant differences in coherence length and angular spread were observed between taxonomic groups. Crystals from polycrystalline skeletal ensembles were more perfect than those that function as single-crystal elements. Different anisotropic effects on crystal texture were observed for sea urchin and mollusk calcite crystals, whereas none was found for the foraminifer, Patellina, and the control calcite crystals. These results show that the manipulation of crystal texture in different organisms is under biological control and that crystal textures in some tissues are adapted to function. A better understanding of this apparently widespread biological phenomenon may provide new insights for improving synthetic crystal-containing materials.
利用高分辨率同步加速器 X 射线辐射，研究了来自四个门的生物体的多种矿化组织中的方解石晶体的纹理。在分类群之间观察到相干长度和角度散布的显著差异。多晶骨骼组合中的晶体比作为单晶元素的晶体更完美。在海胆和软体动物方解石晶体中观察到不同的各向异性晶体纹理效应，而在有孔虫、扁形贝和对照方解石晶体中则没有。这些结果表明，不同生物体中方解石晶体纹理的操纵受生物控制，并且一些组织中的晶体纹理适应于功能。更好地理解这种显然广泛存在的生物现象可能为改进含有合成晶体的材料提供新的见解。
