Although there are no organisms known to require Ti, it shares with V the property of being accumulated to a high level in some marine species (Zierden & Valentine, 2015). The beneficial roles of Ti are not yet clear, but a number of roles are postulated:

 

(1) Biomineralized TiO2 may play a structural role in diatoms similar to condensed silica, SiO2. Ti is concentrated from the environment by diatoms and foraminifera, and in several species, the presence of TiO2 in the mineralized shell (test) indicates an active concentration mechanism (Çobani & Valentine, 2022). 

 

(2) Titanium may also play a role in ascidians, which accumulate this element as well as V (Zierden & Valentine, 2015).

 

(3) Some bacteria have recently been found to be able to liberate Ti from TiO2 minerals and incorporate the released Ti into their metallome (Gallo et al., 2019).

 

(4) TiO2 is very effective at absorbing ultraviolet radiation, and therefore serves as an effective sunscreen, which may contribute to a beneficial role in some organisms. For this same reason, TiO2 nanoparticles have been adapted for photodynamic therapy in treatment of cancer (Youssef et al., 2017; Ziental et al., 2020). In medicine, Ti is most appreciated for its utility in medical implants due to its ability to bind well with bone and its biocompatibility (Kaur & Singh, 2019).