Shape-preserving erosion controlled by the graded microarchitecture of shark tooth enameloid

Shahrouz Amini, Hajar Razi, Ronald Seidel, Daniel Werner, William T. White, James C. Weaver, Mason N. Dean () and Peter Fratzl ()
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Shahrouz Amini: Department of Biomaterials
Hajar Razi: Department of Biomaterials
Ronald Seidel: Department of Biomaterials
Daniel Werner: Department of Biomaterials
William T. White: National Research Collections Australia
James C. Weaver: Harvard University
Mason N. Dean: Department of Biomaterials
Peter Fratzl: Department of Biomaterials

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract The teeth of all vertebrates predominantly comprise the same materials, but their lifespans vary widely: in stark contrast to mammals, shark teeth are functional only for weeks, rather than decades, making lifelong durability largely irrelevant. However, their diets are diverse and often mechanically demanding, and as such, their teeth should maintain a functional morphology, even in the face of extremely high and potentially damaging contact stresses. Here, we reconcile the dilemma between the need for an operative tooth geometry and the unavoidable damage inherent to feeding on hard foods, demonstrating that the tooth cusps of Port Jackson sharks, hard-shelled prey specialists, possess unusual microarchitecture that controls tooth erosion in a way that maintains functional cusp shape. The graded architecture in the enameloid provokes a location-specific damage response, combining chipping of outer enameloid and smooth wear of inner enameloid to preserve an efficient shape for grasping hard prey. Our discovery provides experimental support for the dominant theory that multi-layered tooth enameloid facilitated evolutionary diversification of shark ecologies.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19739-0

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