Microstructural control of calcite via incorporation of intracrystalline organic molecules in shells

It is widely accepted that organic substances regulate or influence the structure of biominerals, but its direct evidences are not plenty. Here we show that the crystallographic microstructures in biotic calcites arise from incorporated intracrystalline organic molecules (IOMs), through a comparison between biotic calcites in shells and synthetic ones with the IOMs extracted from the shells. Although the prismatic layers of a pearl oyster (Pinctada fucata) and a pen shell (Atrina pectinata) morphologically resemble each other, the crystallographic features of constituent calcites are considerably different; in Pinctada, the IOMs are distributed inhomogeneously to form small-angle grain boundaries and associated crystal defects, whereas in Atrina, the IOMs are distributed almost homogeneously and defects are rare in the calcite crystals. We conducted in vitro calcite syntheses in the presence of the IOMs in EDTA-soluble extracts from the prisms. The IOMs in the extracts from Pinctada and Atrina were incorporated into synthetic calcites in a different manner, exhibiting defect-rich/free features as observed in the natural shells. With regard to amino acid compositions of the IOMs, the extract from Atrina has a higher proportion of acidic amino acids than that from Pinctada, implying that acidic proteins do not correlate directly to their affinity for calcium carbonate crystals. •Inhomogeneous distribution of IOMs in Pinctada shells induces crystal defects.•Defect-rich structure in Pinctada shells was reproduced in vitro.•IOMs in Atrina shells have little influence on the crystal structure.•IOMs in Atrina are much more negatively-charged than those in Pinctada.•Negative charge of IOMs does not correlate directly to their affinity for calcites.