TY - JOUR
T1 - Complex morphologies of biogenic crystals emerge from anisotropic growth of symmetry-related facets
AU - Avrahami, Emanuel M.
AU - Houben, Lothar
AU - Aram, Lior
AU - Gal, Assaf
N1 - Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 The Authors.
PY - 2022/4/15
Y1 - 2022/4/15
N2 - Directing crystal growth into complex morphologies is challenging, as crystals tend to adopt thermodynamically stable morphologies. However, many organisms form crystals with intricate morphologies, as exemplified by coccoliths, microscopic calcite crystal arrays produced by unicellular algae. The complex morphologies of the coccolith crystals were hypothesized to materialize from numerous crystallographic facets, stabilized by fine-tuned interactions between organic molecules and the growing crystals. Using electron tomography, we examined multiple stages of coccolith development in three dimensions. We found that the crystals express only one set of symmetry-related crystallographic facets, which grow differentially to yield highly anisotropic shapes. Morphological chirality arises from positioning the crystals along specific edges of these same facets. Our findings suggest that growth rate manipulations are sufficient to yield complex crystalline morphologies.
AB - Directing crystal growth into complex morphologies is challenging, as crystals tend to adopt thermodynamically stable morphologies. However, many organisms form crystals with intricate morphologies, as exemplified by coccoliths, microscopic calcite crystal arrays produced by unicellular algae. The complex morphologies of the coccolith crystals were hypothesized to materialize from numerous crystallographic facets, stabilized by fine-tuned interactions between organic molecules and the growing crystals. Using electron tomography, we examined multiple stages of coccolith development in three dimensions. We found that the crystals express only one set of symmetry-related crystallographic facets, which grow differentially to yield highly anisotropic shapes. Morphological chirality arises from positioning the crystals along specific edges of these same facets. Our findings suggest that growth rate manipulations are sufficient to yield complex crystalline morphologies.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85128269461&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abm1748
DO - https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abm1748
M3 - Article
C2 - 35420932
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 376
SP - 312
EP - 316
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 6590
ER -