Detoxification biominerals

Biominerals are most often considered in either their more traditional roles as critical structural components of organisms (e.g., teeth, the siliceous shell of diatoms) and important ion reservoirs for cellular function (Ca2+ and bone) or in their highly evolved functional roles (e.g., magnetotactic sensing, buoyancy/balance regulation). Increasingly, it is becoming apparent that biominerals also play an important protective role by acting as critical detoxification sinks within certain organisms. Thus, organisms ranging from protozoa to eukaryotes utilize the same principles of biomineralization (cellular processing, supramolecular organization, and interfacial recognition) used to form such materials as Abalone nacre to efficiently remove potentially toxic species from their immediate environment. Thus, as understanding how biological systems exert their nanoscale control over structural biominerals has provided important biomimetic routes to novel materials synthesis, similar advances in both therapeutic development and materials synthesis can be made through the study of detoxification biominerals.