Intracellular morphogenesis of diatom silica is guided by local variations in membrane curvature

Lior Aram, Diede Haan, Neta Varsano, James B. Gilchrist, Christoph Heintze, Ron Rotkopf, Katya Rechav, Nadav Elad, Nils Kröger and Assaf Gal ()
Additional contact information
Lior Aram: Weizmann Institute of Science
Diede Haan: Weizmann Institute of Science
Neta Varsano: Weizmann Institute of Science
James B. Gilchrist: Diamond Light Source, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus
Christoph Heintze: Technische Universität Dresden
Ron Rotkopf: Weizmann Institute of Science
Katya Rechav: Weizmann Institute of Science
Nadav Elad: Weizmann Institute of Science
Nils Kröger: Technische Universität Dresden
Assaf Gal: Weizmann Institute of Science

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Silica cell-wall formation in diatoms is a showcase for the ability of organisms to control inorganic mineralization. The process of silicification by these unicellular algae is tightly regulated within a membrane-bound organelle, the silica deposition vesicle (SDV). Two opposing scenarios were proposed to explain the tight regulation of this intracellular process: a template-mediated process that relies on preformed scaffolds, or a template-independent self-assembly process. The present work points to a third scenario, where the SDV membrane is a dynamic mold that shapes the forming silica. We use in-cell cryo-electron tomography to visualize the silicification process in situ, in its native-state, and with a nanometer-scale resolution. This reveals that the plasma membrane interacts with the SDV membrane via physical tethering at membrane contact sites, where the curvature of the tethered side of the SDV membrane mirrors the intricate silica topography. We propose that silica growth and morphogenesis result from the biophysical properties of the SDV and plasma membranes.

Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-52211-x Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-52211-x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52211-x

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().