The Role of Heavy Metals in Biomaterials

无机建筑材料塑造了软体动物和脊椎动物等群体的进化。这些生物的贝壳和骨骼中的钙矿物以及例如软体动物牙齿和放射虫骨骼中使用的铁和硅矿物在进化上的重要性是众所周知的。相比之下，重金属在结构材料中的意义目前还没有被探索。重金属广泛存在于许多节肢动物和蠕虫的下巴、爪子和其他“工具”的商业末端。这些结构可能含有高达25%(按质量计)的罕见重金属，如锌、锰和铜。PIS建议开始研究这种材料的形式、功能和生理。这种材料的微观形态将用电子显微镜进行研究。为了确定可能的功能，PI将使用原子力显微镜测试这种材料的机械性能。最后，PI将使用高能离子显微镜，通过跟踪蚂蚁变态过程中锌的分布来开始研究这种现象的生理学。因此，这里提出的研究将是理解这种广泛存在的生物现象的第一步，这种现象在这些生物的生物学、生态学和进化史上具有未知但潜在的重要意义。

Inorganic building materials have shaped the evolution of groups such as mollusks and vertebrates. The evolutionary importance of the calcium minerals in the shells and skeletons of these organisms and the iron and silicon minerals employed in, for example, mollusc teeth and the skeletons of radiolarians is well understood. In contrast, the significance of heavy metals in structural material is, at present, unexplored. Heavy metals are found widely in the business ends of the jaws, claws and other "tools" of many arthropods and worms. These structures may contain up to 25% (by mass) of uncommon heavy metals such as zinc, manganese and copper. The PIs propose to begin to study the form, function and physiology of this material. The microscopic form of this material will be investigated using electron microscopy. In order to establish a possible function, the PIs will test mechanical properties of this material using atomic force microscopy. Finally, the PIs will use high- energy ion microscopy to begin studying the physiology of this phenomenon by tracking the distribution of zinc through the metamorphosis of ants. The research proposed here will thus be first steps in understanding this wide-spread biological phenomenon with unknown but potentially important significance in the biology, ecology and the evolutionary history of these organisms.