MMS6 protein regulates crystal morphology during nano-sized magnetite biomineralization in vivo.

ABSTRACT: Biomineralization, the process by which minerals are deposited by organisms, has attracted considerable attention because this mechanism has shown great potential to inspire bottom-up material syntheses. To understand the mechanism for morphological regulation that occurs during biomineralization, many regulatory proteins have been isolated from various biominerals. However, the molecular mechanisms that regulate the morphology of biominerals remain unclear because there is a lack of in vivo evidence. Magnetotactic bacteria synthesize intracellular magnetosomes that comprise membrane-enveloped single crystalline magnetite (Fe(3)O(4)). These nano-sized magnetite crystals (<100 nm) are bacterial species dependent in shape and size. Mms6 is a protein that is tightly associated with magnetite

SUBMITTER: Tanaka M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3057814 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature