Guanine-based photonic crystals in fish scales form from an amorphous precursor

Dvir Gur; Yael Politi; Berta Sivan; Peter Fratzl; Steve Weiner; Lia Addadi

doi:10.1002/anie.201205336

Guanine-based photonic crystals in fish scales form from an amorphous precursor

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2013 Jan 2;52(1):388-91. doi: 10.1002/anie.201205336. Epub 2012 Sep 5.

Authors

Dvir Gur¹, Yael Politi, Berta Sivan, Peter Fratzl, Steve Weiner, Lia Addadi

Affiliation

¹ Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.

PMID: 22951999
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201205336

Abstract

Starting from disorder: anhydrous guanine crystals compose the photonic arrays responsible for the skin and scale iridescence found in Japanese Koi fish. These guanine crystals were found to form in intracellular vesicles through an amorphous precursor phase. A combined cryo-SEM and synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction study showed the evolution of the crystals in great detail.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Carps
Crystallization
Guanine / chemistry*
Integumentary System
Photons
X-Ray Diffraction

Substances

Guanine