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- Agbaje, Oluwatoosin B. A., et al.
(author)
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Organic biopolymers of venus clams : Collagen-related matrix in the bivalve shells with crossed-lamellar ultrastructure
- 2021
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In: Biochemistry and biophysics reports. - : Elsevier. - 2405-5808. ; 26
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Biochemical studies and spectroscopic techniques have shown that chitin-silk fibroins are common in nacroprismatic bivalve shells. However, the nature of organic biopolymers in the less well studied shell architectures, such as crossed lamellar shells, remain unknown. Here, two venus shells, Callista disrupta and Callista kingii, with crossed lamellar ultrastructure have been studied.Methods: We employed thermal gravimetric analysis, optical-, confocal- and scanning electron-microscopes, gel-sodium dodecyl sulfate (gel-SDS), FTIR, ultra-performance liquid chromatography and high-performance anion-exchange chromatography system with pulsed amperometric detection to analyse organic macromolecules in the shells.Results: Thermal analysis showed a low concentration of organic macromolecules in C. disrupta (1.38 wt%) and in C. kingii (1.71 wt%). A combination of biochemical protocols, including Calcofluor White staining and FTIR spectroscopic assessment, indicate that amino-polysaccharide chitin together with proteins, are present in the organic scaffolding of the shells. Scanning electron microscope of insoluble acid biopolymer extracts as well as FTIR technique show that the hierarchical structural organizations of organic biopolymers consist collagen-related matrix. Our histochemical fixing and staining techniques reveal many discrete proteins and glycoproteins from soluble organic macromolecules on the gel-SDS. We show here 'singlet' and 'doublet' glycosaminoglycan bands that are far above 260 kDa.General significance/conclusions: The presence of collagen matrix in Callista shells shows promise for the new source of biomaterials. Most importantly, the structural organization of the proteinaceous motif is predominantly helical structures and not silk-fibroin unlike in nacreous bivalve shells.
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- Chan, Phoebe, et al.
(author)
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Freshening of the Alaska Coastal Current recorded by coralline algal Ba/Ca ratios
- 2011
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In: Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences. - 0148-0227. ; 116
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Arctic Ocean freshening can exert a controlling influence on global climate, triggering strong feedbacks on ocean-atmospheric processes and affecting the global cycling of the world's oceans. Glacier-fed ocean currents such as the Alaska Coastal Current are important sources of freshwater for the Bering Sea shelf, and may also influence the Arctic Ocean freshwater budget. Instrumental data indicate a multiyear freshening episode of the Alaska Coastal Current in the early 21st century. It is uncertain whether this freshening is part of natural multidecadal climate variability or a unique feature of anthropogenically induced warming. In order to answer this, a better understanding of past variations in the Alaska Coastal Current is needed. However, continuous long-term high-resolution observations of the Alaska Coastal Current have only been available for the last 2 decades. In this study, specimens of the long-lived crustose coralline alga Clathromorphum nereostratum were collected within the pathway of the Alaska Coastal Current and utilized as archives of past temperature and salinity. Results indicate that coralline algal Mg/Ca ratios provide a 60 year record of sea surface temperatures and track changes of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, a pattern of decadal-to-multidecadal ocean-atmosphere climate variability centered over the North Pacific. Algal Ba/Ca ratios (used as indicators of coastal freshwater runoff) are inversely correlated to instrumentally measured Alaska Coastal Current salinity and record the period of freshening from 2001 to 2006. Similar multiyear freshening events are not evident in the earlier portion of the 60 year Ba/Ca record. This suggests that the 21st century freshening of the Alaska Coastal Current is a unique feature related to increasing glacial melt and precipitation on mainland Alaska.
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- Cruz-Uribe, Alicia, et al.
(author)
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A New LA-ICP-MS Method for Ti in Quartz: Implications and Application to HP Rutile-Quartz Veins from the Czech Erzgebirge
- 2017
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In: Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research. - : Wiley. - 1639-4488 .- 1751-908X. ; 41:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Experimental determination of the pressure and temperature controls on Ti solubility in quartz provides a calibration of the Ti-in-quartz (TitaniQ) geothermometer applicable to geological conditions up to ~ 20 kbar. We present a new method for determining 48Ti mass fractions in quartz by LA-ICP-MS at the 1 μg g−1 level, relevant to quartz in HP-LT terranes. We suggest that natural quartz such as the low-CL rims of the Bishop Tuff quartz (determined by EPMA; 41 ± 2 μg g−1 Ti, 2s) is more suitable than NIST reference glasses as a reference material for low Ti mass fractions because matrix effects are limited, Ca isobaric interferences are avoided, and polyatomic interferences at mass 48 are insignificant, thus allowing for the use of 48Ti as a normalising mass. Average titanium mass fraction from thirty-three analyses of low temperature quartz from the Czech Erzgebirge is 0.9 ± 0.2 μg g−1 (2s) using 48Ti as a normalising mass and Bishop Tuff quartz rims as a reference material. The 2s average analytical uncertainty for individual analyses of 48Ti is 8% for 50 μm spots and 7% for 100 μm spots, which offers much greater accuracy than the 21–41% uncertainty (2s) incurred from using 49Ti as an analyte.
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