Environmental News Network - Corals Carefully Organize Proteins to Form Rock-Hard Skeletons enn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from enn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Stylophora pistillata, a common stony coral in the Indo-Pacific. (Photo: Kevin Wyman/Rutgers University)
Charles Darwin, the British naturalist who championed the theory of evolution, noted that corals form far-reaching structures, largely made of limestone, that surround tropical islands. He didn t know how they performed this feat.
Now, Rutgers scientists have shown that coral structures consist of a biomineral containing a highly organized organic mix of proteins that resembles what is in our bones. Their study, published in the
Journal of the Royal Society Interface, shows for the first time that several proteins are organized spatially – a process that s critical to forming a rock-hard coral skeleton.
Corals carefully organize proteins to form rock-hard skeletons eurekalert.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from eurekalert.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.