Abstract
Magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) biomineralize magnetosomes, nano-scale crystals of magnetite or greigite in membrane enclosures that comprise a permanent magnetic dipole in each cell. MTB control the mineral composition, habit, size, and crystallographic orientation of the magnetosomes, as well as their arrangement within the cell. Studies involving magnetosomes that contain mineral and biological phases require multidisciplinary efforts. Here we use crystallographic, genomic and phylogenetic perspectives to review the correlations between magnetosome mineral habits and the phylogenetic affiliations of MTB, and show that these correlations have important implications for the evolution of magnetosome synthesis, and thus magnetotaxis.
Highlights
All magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) contain magnetosomes comprising nano-scale, magnetite (Fe3O4) or greigite (Fe3S4) crystals enclosed in phospholipid bilayer membranes (Gorby et al, 1988; Bazylinski and Frankel, 2004)
We have shown in this review that the morphological properties of magnetosome minerals correlate strongly with specific phylogenetic groups of MTB reflecting the evolutionary path of magnetotaxis
While a number of genes are clearly important in the biomineralization process, those genes responsible for magnetosome crystal morphology are not yet known
Summary
All magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) contain magnetosomes comprising nano-scale, magnetite (Fe3O4) or greigite (Fe3S4) crystals enclosed in phospholipid bilayer membranes (Gorby et al, 1988; Bazylinski and Frankel, 2004). If multi-projection magnetosome outlines are complemented by selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns and high-resolution (HR) TEM images obtained along certain crystallographic directions, the exact relationship between crystal morphology and internal structure can be established (Simpson et al, 2005; Pósfai et al, 2006; Faivre et al, 2008; Li et al, 2010; Lefèvre et al, 2011d).
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