Purine Molecular Interactions Determine Anisotropic Shape of Zebrafish Biogenic Crystals.

ABSTRACT: Across phyla, many organisms self-organize crystals, for functions like vision, pigmentation, and metabolite storage. In zebrafish, a vertebrate known for its crystal-based color patterns, iridophores concentrate purines in membrane-bound organelles, the iridosomes. Inside these vesicles, crystals assemble into large, flat, and thin hexagons following unknown mechanisms that defy typical thermodynamic interactions. Here, we investigate the development of zebrafish iridosomal crystals by using live imaging, cryoFIB-SEM, and novel morphometric analysis pipelines. In doing so, we find that crystal growth predominantly occurs along the b-crystallographic axis, producing their characteristic anisotropic shape. By performing comparative genetic analyses in vivo and reproducing such conditions in

SUBMITTER: Rothkegel J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12464799 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature