PUBLICATION
Genetic control over biogenic crystal morphogenesis in zebrafish
- Authors
- Deis, R., Lerer-Goldshtein, T., Baiko, O., Eyal, Z., Brenman-Begin, D., Goldsmith, M., Kaufmann, S., Heinig, U., Dong, Y., Lushchekina, S., Varsano, N., Olender, T., Kupervaser, M., Porat, Z., Levin-Zaidman, S., Pinkas, I., Mateus, R., Gur, D.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-240901-41
- Date
- 2024
- Source
- Nature Chemical Biology : (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Eyal, Zohar, Gur, Dvir, Kaufmann, Sylvia, Lerer-Goldshtein, Tali, Mateus, Rita
- Keywords
- none
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Crystallization
- Guanine/chemistry
- Guanine/metabolism
- Morphogenesis/genetics
- Zebrafish*
- Zebrafish Proteins/genetics
- Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism
- PubMed
- 39215102 Full text @ Nat. Chem. Biol.
Citation
Deis, R., Lerer-Goldshtein, T., Baiko, O., Eyal, Z., Brenman-Begin, D., Goldsmith, M., Kaufmann, S., Heinig, U., Dong, Y., Lushchekina, S., Varsano, N., Olender, T., Kupervaser, M., Porat, Z., Levin-Zaidman, S., Pinkas, I., Mateus, R., Gur, D. (2024) Genetic control over biogenic crystal morphogenesis in zebrafish. Nature Chemical Biology. :.
Abstract
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.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping