Brushite mineral
Brushite is the hydrated calcium hydrogen phosphate mineral Ca(PO3OH)(H2O)2, commonly written CaHPO4·2H2O. The September 2026 IMA list gives grandfathered status and original-description year 1865, not a unique approval accession. It is distinct from anhydrous monetite, apatite minerals, elemental phosphorus and mixed phosphate fertilizers. The curated laboratory experiment contains brushite-bearing mixtures, including cell-free precipitates, rather than a phase-pure recovered product. No constituent criticality is inherited.
Microbial & Biochemical Mechanisms (1)
Brushite-bearing precipitation and culture-associated phase change with cell-free controls
biomineralization
Microbial
Associated Organisms:
Escherichia coli (NCBITaxon:562)
Heveran et al. detected brushite and apatite in cell-free medium and nonureolytic Escherichia coli HB101 controls, and initially in the lower-urease HB101/ure-integration culture. Bulk calcium-phosphate diffraction was replaced by calcite-dominated patterns as that culture developed; dissolved phosphorus also returned to solution. This is evidence for a tested culture-associated change in mixed precipitates, not a requirement for cells to form brushite, a measured brushite-specific conversion fraction or an isolated phosphorus product.
Experimental Context & Analytical Limits:
The low-urease E. coli HB101/ure-integration and higher-urease HB101/pBU11 derivatives were compared with source-named Sporosarcina pasteurii ATCC 11859, unmodified nonureolytic E. coli HB101 and medium without cells. E. coli precultures grew at 37 degrees C in LB with 50 micromolar NiCl2; the pBU11 preculture also contained ampicillin. Live precultures entered filtered urea-CaCl2 medium at OD600=0.2 in 50 mL conical-vial cultures shaken at 20 degrees C; shaker speed was not specified. The recipe gives 20 g/L urea, 10 g/L NH4Cl and 3 g/L Difco nutrient broth, and lists 25 mmol each of NaHCO3 and CaCl2 without an explicit per-volume denominator for those two entries. E. coli cultures additionally received 5 micromolar NiCl2; identical Ni addition to all other arms is not assumed. Ureolytic cultures were sacrificially sampled at 12 h, 1 d, 2 d and 7 d with three culture replicates initially and four at 7 d; both controls were sampled in triplicate at 1 d, 2 d and 7 d. Solids recovered on 0.22-micrometre filters were dried overnight at room temperature; XRD specimens were additionally rinsed with deionized water and dried on silicon disks. SEM, XRD and selected 7 d Raman/WDS analyses characterized processed solids. The nutrient broth supplies phosphorus, and pH and dissolved Ca/P were tracked. The source calls its solution assay ICP-OES but names an Elan DRC-e instrument; the instrumental-method inconsistency is not silently resolved or used to derive new concentrations.
The low-urease E. coli HB101/ure-integration and higher-urease HB101/pBU11 derivatives were compared with source-named Sporosarcina pasteurii ATCC 11859, unmodified nonureolytic E. coli HB101 and medium without cells. E. coli precultures grew at 37 degrees C in LB with 50 micromolar NiCl2; the pBU11 preculture also contained ampicillin. Live precultures entered filtered urea-CaCl2 medium at OD600=0.2 in 50 mL conical-vial cultures shaken at 20 degrees C; shaker speed was not specified. The recipe gives 20 g/L urea, 10 g/L NH4Cl and 3 g/L Difco nutrient broth, and lists 25 mmol each of NaHCO3 and CaCl2 without an explicit per-volume denominator for those two entries. E. coli cultures additionally received 5 micromolar NiCl2; identical Ni addition to all other arms is not assumed. Ureolytic cultures were sacrificially sampled at 12 h, 1 d, 2 d and 7 d with three culture replicates initially and four at 7 d; both controls were sampled in triplicate at 1 d, 2 d and 7 d. Solids recovered on 0.22-micrometre filters were dried overnight at room temperature; XRD specimens were additionally rinsed with deionized water and dried on silicon disks. SEM, XRD and selected 7 d Raman/WDS analyses characterized processed solids. The nutrient broth supplies phosphorus, and pH and dissolved Ca/P were tracked. The source calls its solution assay ICP-OES but names an Elan DRC-e instrument; the instrumental-method inconsistency is not silently resolved or used to derive new concentrations.
Curated Evidence Points:
Support
Source:
heveran2019
Figure 2D-E, accompanying Results p4 and Methods p10 identify brushite/apatite in the cell-free and wild-type controls at the sampled 1 d, 2 d and 7 d times. Figure 2B and Figure 3I-L identify initial calcium-phosphate material in the lower-urease culture and later calcite. The positive cell-free result directly rules out interpreting this experiment as proof that microbial metabolism is necessary for initial brushite precipitation.
Partial
Source:
heveran2019
Figures 1G-H, 2B and 3 show phosphorus returning to solution and loss of bulk calcium-phosphate detection as the lower-urease culture evolves. Multiple phosphate phases coexist, cultures are destructively sampled, and rates use differences between replicate means. Dissolved P is not a phase-specific brushite mass balance. The medium and wild-type controls do not show the same P return within 7 d, but the study does not isolate an enzyme-specific brushite dissolution pathway or exclude pH-mediated abiotic chemistry.
Partial
Source:
heveran2019
Table 2 and pp 7-9 describe weak Raman phosphate signals at some 7 d calcite indentation sites even when bulk XRD no longer detected calcium phosphate. Therefore bulk nondetection is not complete brushite elimination or pure calcite recovery. Raman peak-area ratios are local compositional proxies, not mass fractions; the mineral-size and mechanical-property results concern predominantly calcite and are not assigned to bulk brushite.
Context_only
Source:
heveran2019_si
Supplementary Figure 1 is captioned as nanoindentation quality examples and representative Raman spectra for biogenic calcite. The original DOCX was inspected and its load-displacement and SPM image panels could be rendered or extracted; the Raman panel did not render in the available conversion. The main article Table 2 and Raman Results support the retained local-trace interpretation. No quantitative or phase claim depends on the inaccessible supplementary panel.
Sources & References
-
ima_2026_09: IMA-CNMNC. The New IMA List of Minerals, September 2026; definitions pages 1-2 and Brushite row PDF page 32: Ca(PO3OH)(H2O)2, G, 1865. Previously acquired official original re-inspected on 14 October 2026.
https://cnmnc.units.it/files/editor/IMA_Master_List_(2026-09).pdf (accessed 2026-10-14) -
handbook: Handbook of Mineralogy. Brushite, version 1, 2001-2005; complete one-page entry, identity and natural mineral context.
https://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/brushite.pdf (accessed 2026-10-14) -
heveran2019: Heveran et al. (2019). Engineered Ureolytic Microorganisms Can Tailor the Morphology and Nanomechanical Properties of Microbial-Precipitated Calcium Carbonate. Scientific Reports 9:14721. DOI 10.1038/s41598-019-51133-9; original 13-page publisher PDF, Methods pp 10-11, Figures 1-4 and Table 2.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51133-9 (accessed 2026-10-14) -
heveran2019_si: Heveran et al. (2019), Supplementary Information to DOI 10.1038/s41598-019-51133-9; original DOCX with Supplementary Figure 1, nanoindentation and representative Raman spectra.
https://media.springernature.com/original/springer-static/esm/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41598-019-51133-9/MediaObjects/41598_2019_51133_MOESM1_ESM.docx (accessed 2026-10-14) -
ncbi_ecoli: NCBI Taxonomy 562, Escherichia coli, species; official XML inspected 14 October 2026. Species mapping does not authenticate engineered HB101 derivatives.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?id=562&mode=Info (accessed 2026-10-14)
Curation History
| Timestamp | Curator | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
2026-10-14T10:48:23.520164+00:00 |
codex (GPT-6; codex) | CREATE | Created brushite mineral identity and a controlled primary calcium-phosphate culture record, preserving cell-free precipitation, mixed-phase limits and bulk-versus-local detection differences. |
Record source: data/records/brushite.yaml