Abstract This contribution is a scientific journey divided into three parts. In the first part, we review the role that silica biomorphs of alkaline earth metals have played in the formation of complex structures as a reminiscence of the chemistry of the primitive life on Earth. These biomorphs, and their variety of forms synthesized by simple chemical reactions, can nowadays be experimentally used to explain some mechanisms of biomineralization in living organisms. In the second part, we review the role of calcium carbonates in the formation of eggshells in avian. The mechanism of the mineral eggshell´s formation of the biogenic calcite deposited on an organic matrix is revised. The competitive crystal growth mechanism of the mineralized part orientates these crystals preserving the semispherical shape of the egg. We are using these eggshell formations as a second model to understand the biomineralization processes in Nature. The third and final part is about the importance that biomineralization concepts have to produce hybrid materials for the future. This has allowed us to obtain tailored size control of complex morphologies by synthetic chemical procedures that give rise to these new materials’ specific forms and ad hoc properties. We conclude this part with the advantage of knowing the biological mechanisms, based on molecular biology concepts, to obtain protein crystals in vivo and in cellulo techniques. Both methods use the cellular machinery of growing biocrystals in specialized cells that have evolved through millions of years. This new way of producing protein crystals has been trending topic for modern crystallography when using the facilities of the X-ray free-electron lasers (four generation of synchrotrons) for megahertz serial crystallography.

中文翻译：

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二氧化硅和具有生物分子的碱土金属在生物矿化过程中的作用：X 射线晶体学中蛋壳的形成和体内结晶

摘要 此贡献是一个分为三个部分的科学之旅。在第一部分中，我们回顾了碱土金属的二氧化硅生物形态在复杂结构形成中所起的作用，作为对地球原始生命化学的回忆。这些生物形态及其通过简单化学反应合成的各种形式，现在可以通过实验来解释生物体中生物矿化的一些机制。在第二部分，我们回顾了碳酸钙在鸟类蛋壳形成中的作用。修改了沉积在有机基质上的生物方解石矿物蛋壳的形成机制。矿化部分的竞争性晶体生长机制使这些晶体定向，从而保持了鸡蛋的半球形。我们使用这些蛋壳形成作为第二个模型来了解自然界中的生物矿化过程。第三部分也是最后一部分是关于生物矿化概念对于未来生产混合材料的重要性。这使我们能够通过合成化学程序获得复杂形态的定制尺寸控制，从而产生这些新材料的特定形式和特殊特性。我们以了解基于分子生物学概念的生物学机制的优势结束这一部分，以在体内和纤维素技术中获得蛋白质晶体。这两种方法都使用在经过数百万年进化的特化细胞中生长生物晶体的细胞机制。