BIOMINERALIZATION

By
Saajida Sultaana Mahusook
• Living organisms produce minerals, often to harden or
stiffen existing tissues. Such tissues are called
mineralized tissues.
• All six taxonomic kingdoms contain members that are
able to form minerals
• Over 60 different minerals have been identified in
organisms.
• Organisms have been producing mineralized skeletons for
the past 550 million years.

Examples
• Silicates in algae and diatoms, carbonates in
invertebrates, and calcium phosphates and carbonates in
vertebrates. These minerals often form structural features
such as sea shells and the bone in mammals and birds.
Gold depositing bacteria

Cupravidus metallidurans
• Kashefi and Brown have created acompact laboratory
that uses the bacteria Cupriavidus metallidurans to
turn gold chloride—a toxic chemical liquid found in
nature—into 99.9% pure gold.
• The bacteria is incredibly resistant to this toxic
element and it's 25 times stronger than previously
thought. The researchers' compact factory—which
they named The Great Work of the Metal Lover—
holds the bacteria as they feed it the gold chloride. In
about a week, the bacteria does its job, processing all
that junk into the precious metal—a process they
believe happens regularly in nature.
Magnetospirillim magnetotacticum
• Magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) are a diverse group of
microorganisms having the ability to orient and
migrate along geomagnetic field lines.
• It is based on specific intracellular organelles, the
magnetosomes, which comprise nanometer-sized,
membrane bound crystals of magnetic iron minerals
organized into chains via a dedicated cytoskeleton.
• MTB are of great interest for paleomagnetism,
environmental magnetism, biomarkers in rocks,
magnetic materials and biomineralization in
organisms, and bacterial magnetites have been
exploited for a variety of applications in modern
biological and medical sciences.
Calcite
A common rock forming mineral of calcium carbonate
(CaCO3), found primarily in limestone
Used in cement production

Calcite-forming bacteria
A bacterium that forms calcite in the presence of
calcium ions is known as calcite forming bacteria
(CFB).
Used in biocement, self healing concrete production,
removal of heavy metals and CO2 sequestration.