December 1 - 6, 2024
Boston, Massachusetts
Symposium Supporters
2024 MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit
NM07.08.11

Guanine Biocrystals Form via Templated Nucleation of Crystal Leaflets on Preassembled Scaffolds

When and Where

Dec 5, 2024
11:15am - 11:30am
Hynes, Level 2, Room 201

Presenter(s)

Co-Author(s)

Dvir Gur1

Weizmann Institute of Science1

Abstract

Dvir Gur1

Weizmann Institute of Science1
Controlling the morphology of crystalline materials is challenging, as crystals have a strong tendency toward thermodynamically stable structures. Yet, organisms form crystals with distinct morphologies, such as the plate-like guanine crystals produced by many terrestrial and aquatic species for light manipulation. Regulation of crystal morphogenesis was hypothesized to entail physical growth restriction by the surrounding membrane, combined with fine-tuned interactions between organic molecules and the growing crystal. Using cryo-electron tomography of developing zebrafish larvae, we found that guanine crystals form via templated nucleation of thin leaflets on preassembled scaffolds made of 20-nm-thick amyloid fibers. These leaflets then merge and coalesce into a single plate-like crystal. Our findings shed light on the biological regulation of crystal morphogenesis, which determines their optical properties.

Keywords

morphology | nanostructure | spectroscopy

Symposium Organizers

Qian Chen, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Sijie Chen, Karolinska Institutet
Bin Liu, National University of Singapore
Xin Zhang, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Symposium Support

Silver
ZepTools Technology Co., Ltd.

Session Chairs

Yuna Bae
Honghu Zhang
Xin Zhang

In this Session