What's so special about Calcium Phosphate? Why can't bones be made of something stronger?

[Gingernuts]

Starting with an organic mesh of fibres (cartilliage), my body can produce a strong, flexible and highly rigid ceramic structure from calcium phosphate (bone).

I'd like to engineer plants to make similar structures but with stronger, engineering grade ceramics (like maybe Al2O3 or SiC) so I can grow my own cities.

Try as I might, this is actually really hard to look up; upon reference to a few biochemistry books and a precursory googling, I can't seem to find very much on the biochemistry of ossification at all (bone formation).

 

I know it isn't quite a diffusive process, though perhaps it is like crystal formation in a solution or something, but ultimately I'm stuck - is there an enzyme or something that facilitates this?

 

Thanks guys

Edited April 29, 2015 by Gingernuts

[John Cuthber]

As far as I'm aware, biology doesn't "do" silicon carbide.

But it does some beautiful things with the oxide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatom

 

On the related question of bone creation, this sort of thing might help

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphosphonate

but essentially, I think the best you can get from plants will be something like this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equisetum#/media/File:Microscopic_view_of_Equisetum_in_Japan_one_20thmm_graduation.jpg

which is a long way from being a city

 

 

Also, you seem to have overlooked just how good bone is.

It's vastly tougher that a simple calcium phosphate

 

But the real problem with what you want will be getting plants to make cities.