Changing environments and structure--property relationships in marine biomaterials.

Most marine organisms make functional biomolecular materials that extend to varying degrees ‘beyond their skins’. These materials are very diverse and include shells, spines, frustules, tubes, mucus trails, egg capsules and byssal threads, to mention a few. Because they are devoid of cells, these materials lack the dynamic maintenance afforded intra-organismic tissues and thus are usually assumed to be inherently more durable than their internalized counterparts. Recent advances in nanomechanics and submicron spectroscopic imaging have enabled the characterization of structure–property relationships in a variety of extra-organismic materials and provided important new insights about their adaptive functions and stability. Some structure–property relationships in byssal threads are described to show how available analytical methods can reveal hitherto unappreciated interdependences between these materials and their prevailing chemical, physical and ecological environments. * AFM : atomic force microscopy BESSY : Berliner Elektronenspeicherring-Gesellschaft fur Synchrotronstrahlung EDX : energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy EXAFS : extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy FECO : fringes of equal chromatic order MALDI : matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization mass spectroscopy PIXE : proton induced X-ray emission spectroscopy SAXS : small angle X-ray scattering SFA : surface forces apparatus ssNMR : solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance WAXS : wide angle X-ray scattering XANES : X-ray absorption for near edge structure XAS : X-ray absorption spectroscopy