Structural characterization of the buccal mass of Ariolimax californicus (Gastropoda; Stylommatophora)

Devis Montroni, Xiaolin Zhang, Janet Leonard, Murat Kaya, Chris Amemiya, Giuseppe Falini, Marco Rolandi*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

30 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Biological materials such as chiton tooth, squid beak, and byssal threads of bivalves have inspired the development of new technologies. To this end, we have characterized the acellular components in the buccal mass of the terrestrial slug Ariolimax californicus (banana slug). These components are the radula, the jaw, and the odontophore. In the radula, calcium-rich denticles are tightly interlocked one to the other on top of a nanofibrous chitin membrane. The jaw has a nanostructured morphology made of chitin to achieve compression resistance and is directly linked to the foregut cuticle, which has a protective nanofibrous structure. Finally, in the odontophore, we observed a structurally elastic microstructure that interfaces soft tissues with a highly stressed radula membrane. Based on those observations, we discuss the interaction between these components and highlight how the materials in these task-specific components have evolved. This structure-properties-function study of the A. californicus’ buccal mass may aid in the design and fabrication of novel bioinspired materials.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere0212249
JournalPLoS ONE
Volume14
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2019
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Montroni et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding

This work is supported by the Office of Naval Research Award (N000141410724), and start-up funding at the University of California Santa Cruz. Part of this work was performed at the Stanford Nano Shared Facilities (SNSF), supported by the National Science Foundation under award ECCS-1542152.

FundersFunder number
Stanford Nano Shared Facilities
National Science Foundation1542152, ECCS-1542152
Office of Naval ResearchN000141410724
University of California, Santa Cruz

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