Fish, chameleons and crabs are able to form such beautiful natural crystals by utilizing two simple molecules, and their creation of natural structures with arbitrary shapes is reminiscent of the beauty and complexity in nature.
Uncover the Mysteries of Nature’s Crystal Chefs
Fish and chameleons, crabs, banks and even Walter White from Breaking Bad… what do they all have in common? They can all create beguiling crystals.
Natural wonders with the ability to produce crystals, good for everything from sight and vanishing act, to being able to control heat and communicate, unlike those naughty methites Mr White would have you believe. Seemingly, it is this diversity that has been intriguing researchers for many years as animals seem to be able to produce an enormous number of different crystals from just two simple molecules: guanine and hypoxanthine.
But this superpower might soon lose its mystery, as a groundbreaking study published in Nature Chemical Biology has just revealed the secret recipe for how nature gets this to happen. Our story hero is the unassuming zebrafish, small freshwater fish native to South Asia with brilliant crystals make their entire bodies sparkle. The researchers managed to pick apart the biochemical and genetic mechanisms that allow the zebrafish to control the formation, structure, and properties of their crystals in exquisite detail.
Cracking the Crystal Code
Those complex minerals made the zebrafish embryos perfect for demonstrating Guanine-Xanthine co-precipitates. The way a baker can make different treats by varying the ratio of those basic ingredients, the zebrafish modifies its crystals’ structure and optical properties by precisely modulating how many of each building block go into them.
Through the use of an electron microscope, the researchers noted that while crystals are forming in gills, eyes and skin of zebra fish they differ by having a different shape, composition and arrangement within the cells. And by measuring the proportion of guanine and hypoxanthine in these separate angulated crystals, researchers were able to artificially reproduce three different zebrafish-crystal types under lab conditions.
It is, however, not where the story ends. In addition to the crystals themselves, guanine and hypoxanthine are molecules that all life uses in the synthesis of DNA and as a necessary component for cellular metabolism. In order to determine how the zebrafish can make these unique crystals while maintaining normal cellular function, the researchers took a closer look at the cells that produce the crystals, called iridophores.
Conclusion
By gaining extra insights into the way in which animals get by, scientists can uncover new strategies of imitating nature and fueling engineering solutions. Understanding how zebrafish produce crystals in such an exquisite manner reveals the sophistication and elegance of nature, which may perhaps even motivate the development of new materials and technologies that mirror these awe-inspiring natural wonders.
