A cryptochrome-based photosensory system in the siliceous sponge Suberites domuncula (Demospongiae)
Based on the light-reactive behavior of siliceous sponges, their intriguing quartz glass-based spicular system and the existence of a light-generating luciferase [Muller WEG et al. (2009) Cell Mol Life Sci 66, 537–552], a protein potentially involved in light reception has been identified, cloned and recombinantly expressed from the demosponge Suberites domuncula. Its sequence displays two domains characteristic of cryptochrome, the N-terminal photolyase-related region and the C-terminal FAD-binding domain. The expression level of S. domuncula cryptochrome depends on animal’s exposure to light and is highest in tissue regions rich in siliceous spicules; in the dark, no cryptochrome transcri…
Metazoan Circadian Rhythm: Toward an Understanding of a Light-Based Zeitgeber in Sponges
In all eukaryotes, the 24-h periodicity in the environment contributed to the evolution of the molecular circadian clock. We studied some elements of a postulated circadian clock circuit in the lowest metazoans, the siliceous sponges. First, we identified in the demosponge Suberites domuncula the enzyme luciferase that generates photons. Then (most likely), the photons generated by luciferase are transmitted via the biosilica glass skeleton of the sponges and are finally harvested by cryptochrome in the same individual; hence, cryptochrome is acting as a photosensor. This information-transduction system, generation of light (luciferase), photon transmission (through the siliceous spicules),…
Silicateins - A Novel Paradigm in Bioinorganic Chemistry: Enzymatic Synthesis of Inorganic Polymeric Silica
The inorganic matrix of the siliceous skeletal elements of sponges, that is, spicules, is formed of amorphous biosilica. Until a decade ago, it remained unclear how the hard biosilica monoliths of the spicules are formed in sponges that live in a silica-poor (<50 mu m) aquatic environment. The following two discoveries caused a paradigm shift and allowed an elucidation of the processes underlying spicule formation; first the discovery that in the spicules only one major protein, silicatein, exists and second, that this protein displays a bio-catalytical, enzymatic function. These findings caused a paradigm shift, since silicatein is the first enzyme that catalyzes the formation of an inorga…
The sponge silicatein-interacting protein silintaphin-2 blocks calcite formation of calcareous sponge spicules at the vaterite stage
Ca-carbonate, the inorganic matrix of the spicules from the calcareous sponges, is formed as the result of an enzyme-catalyzed reaction with the carbonic anhydrase [CA] as a decisive component. The growth and the morphology of the spicules are genetically controlled, and are taxon-specific. In the present study it is shown that the silicatein-interacting protein silintaphin-2 is present at the surface of the siliceous spicules of the demosponge Suberites domuncula and prevents the association of calcareous crystals synthesized in vitro to these skeletal elements. Silintaphin-2 comprises a Ca2+-binding domain that is formed by a 22 amino acid-long peptide, N-DDDSQGEIQSDMAEEEDDDNVD-C. This ve…
Evagination of Cells Controls Bio-Silica Formation and Maturation during Spicule Formation in Sponges
The enzymatic-silicatein mediated formation of the skeletal elements, the spicules of siliceous sponges starts intracellularly and is completed extracellularly. With Suberites domuncula we show that the axial growth of the spicules proceeds in three phases: (I) formation of an axial canal; (II) evagination of a cell process into the axial canal, and (III) assembly of the axial filament composed of silicatein. During these phases the core part of the spicule is synthesized. Silicatein and its substrate silicate are stored in silicasomes, found both inside and outside of the cellular extension within the axial canal, as well as all around the spicule. The membranes of the silicasomes are inte…
Morphology of Sponge Spicules: Silicatein a Structural Protein for Bio-Silica Formation
Most forms of multicellular life have developed a calcium-based skeleton, while only a few specialized organisms complement their body plan with silica, such as sponges (phylum Porifera). However, the way in which sponges synthesize their silica is exceptional. They use an enzyme, silicatein, for the polymerization/polycondensation of silica, and thereby form their highly resistant and stabile massive siliceous skeletal elements (spicules). During this biomineralization process (i.e., biosilicification), hydrated amorphous silica is deposited within highly specialized sponge cells, ultimately resulting in structures that range in size from micrometers to meters. This peculiar phenomenon has…
Biomineral Amorphous Lasers through Light-Scattering Surfaces Assembled by Electrospun Fiber Templates
New materials aim at exploiting the great control of living organisms over molecular architectures and minerals. Optical biomimetics has been widely developed by microengineering, leading to photonic components with order resembling those found in plants and animals. These systems, however, are realized by complicated and adverse processes. Here we show how biomineralization might enable the one-step generation of components for amorphous photonics, in which light is made to travel through disordered scattering systems, and particularly of active devices such as random lasers, by using electrospun fiber templates. The amount of bio-enzymatically produced silica is related to light-scatterin…
Biosilica electrically-insulating layers by soft lithography-assisted biomineralisation with recombinant silicatein.
Optical properties of in-vitro biomineralised silica
Silicon is the second most common element on the Earth's crust and its oxide (SiO(2)) the most abundant mineral. Silica and silicates are widely used in medicine and industry as well as in micro- and nano-optics and electronics. However, the fabrication of glass fibres and components requires high temperature and non-physiological conditions, in contrast to biosilica structures in animals and plants. Here, we show for the first time the use of recombinant silicatein-α, the most abundant subunit of sponge proteins catalyzing biosilicification reactions, to direct the formation of optical waveguides in-vitro through soft microlithography. The artificial biosilica fibres mimic the natural spon…
Evidence of thin-film precursors formation in hydrokinetic and atomistic simulations of nano-channel capillary filling
We present hydrokinetic Lattice Boltzmann and Molecular Dynamics simulations of capillary filling of high-wetting fluids in nano-channels, which provide clear evidence of the formation of thin precursor films, moving ahead of the main capillary front. The dynamics of the precursor films is found to obey the Lucas-Washburn law as the main capillary front, z2(t) proportional to t, although with a larger prefactor, which we find to take the same value for both geometries under inspection. Both hydrokinetic and Molecular Dynamics approaches indicate a precursor film thickness of the order of one tenth of the capillary diameter. The quantitative agreement between the hydrokinetic and atomistic m…
Flashing light signaling circuit in sponges: Endogenous light generation after tissue ablation in Suberites domuncula
The skeleton of siliceous sponges (phylum Porifera: classes Demospongiae and Hexactinellida), composed of tightly interacting spicules that assemble to a genetically fixed scaffold, is formed of bio-silica. This inorganic framework with the quality of quartz glass has been shown to operate as light waveguide in vitro and very likely has a similar function in vivo. Furthermore, the molecular toolkit for endogenous light generation (luciferase) and light/photon harvesting (cryptochrome) has been identified in the demosponge Suberites domuncula. These three components of a light signaling system, spicules—luciferase—cryptochrome, are concentrated in the surface layers (cortex) of the poriferan…