Genetic control over biogenic crystal morphogenesis in zebrafish
Organisms evolve mechanisms that regulate the properties of biogenic crystals to support a wide range of functions, from vision and camouflage to communication and thermal regulation. Yet, the mechanism underlying the formation of diverse intracellular crystals remains enigmatic. Here we unravel the biochemical control over crystal morphogenesis in zebrafish iridophores. We show that the chemical composition of the crystals determines their shape, particularly through the ratio between the nucleobases guanine and hypoxanthine. We reveal that these variations in composition are genetically controlled through tissue-specific expression of specialized paralogs, which exhibit remarkable substrate selectivity. This orchestrated combination grants the organism with the capacity to generate a broad spectrum of crystal morphologies. Overall, our findings suggest a mechanism for the morphological and functional diversity of biogenic crystals and may, thus, inspire the development of genetically designed biomaterials and medical therapeutics.
Authors
- Uwe Heinig (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1642-0160)
- Iddo Pinkas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7434-9844)
- Tsviya Olender (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4194-6420)
- Moshe Goldsmith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8920-7889)
- Neta Varsano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7443-7315)
- Dvir Gur (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9140-1621)
- Smadar Levin‐Zaidman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4519-5326)
- Rita Mateus
- Ziv Porat (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3059-181X)
- Rachael Deis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3073-1395)
- Zohar Eyal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8966-0624)
- Meital Kupervaser (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1068-937X)
- Sofya V. Lushchekina (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6922-020X)
- Tali Lerer‐Goldshtein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1476-1081)
- Yonghui Dong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0534-3868)
- Dolev Brenman-Begin
- Olha Baiko
- Sylvia Kaufmann
Institutions
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (DE)
- Weizmann Institute of Science (IL)
- Technische Universität Dresden (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Chemical Biology
- Published
- 2024-08-30
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-024-01722-1
- Citations
- 23
- Primary Topic
- Physiological and biochemical adaptations
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 10.55
Funders
- European Commission
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Technische Universität Dresden
- Max-Planck-Gesellschaft