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COCCOLITHS. "There are two main types of coccoliths, with quite different modes of biomineralisation. Heterococcoliths are formed of a radial array of complex calcite (CaCO3) crystals and are produced inside the cell. By contrast holococcoliths are formed of numerous minute euhedral crystallites arranged in continuous arrays and calcify outside the cell." (Beautiful images). https://lnkd.in/euKdfr8 View in LinkedIn

BIOLOGICAL CRYSTALS. "The calcite crystals, as coccolith plates, lie in specific locations and are oriented with respect to the crystallographic axes of calcite; whereas the mollusk shell crystallites are aragonite, which in standard laboratory conditions is a less stable form of calcium carbonate than is calcite. The calcite crystals from the human inner ear exhibit a spindle-like shape that is quite different from that of synthetic calcite." https://lnkd.in/eVX4ANS View in LinkedIn

ALGAE SPACE SHIPS. "Unicellular phytoplanktonic algae make elaborate and beautiful calcite plates called heterococcoliths, which constitute the largest carbonate sink in oceanic biogeochemical cycles and are major sediment formers. E. Huxleyi is one of these that assembles the calcite plates from complex photo-crystals in a highly complex manner, to construct a plate that resembles our images of space ships." https://lnkd.in/e7TYvqy View in LinkedIn

MORPHOLOGICAL TEMPLATES. "The placolith morphology allows the coccoliths to interlock closely on the coccosphere, forming a robust structure. This morphology has evolved repeatedly, but many other coccolith morphologies also occur." (Stunning SEM images). https://lnkd.in/eUUB9pU View in LinkedIn

COCCOLITH video that is a must watch. A major player in planetary cycles, this ancient creature is complex and sophisticated. https://lnkd.in/eftV7Ci View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE for the next two weekends is concerned with biocrystals. These structures have attracted much attention from biologists for a long time. These elaborate and durable creations are produced by a wide variety of creatures from molluscs to squid. In many cases, proteins are involved in their shape formation, and in this regard differ from ordinary crystal formation. And they play critical roles in material cycles on planet earth. View in LinkedIn

NONCODING RNA. "A major surprise arising from genome-wide analyses has been the observation that the majority of the genome is transcribed, generating noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). It is still an open question whether some or all of these ncRNAs constitute functional networks regulating gene transcriptional programs." https://lnkd.in/ejESV5H View in LinkedIn

COUSINS. "Pseudogenes are copies of protein-coding genes that are thought to no longer produce the same functional product as their parental gene, but still share a high sequence similarity and can therefore regulate their parental genes through the generation of lncRNAs. Not all pseudogenes are actively transcribed, but when transcribed they can be functional." (lncRNA = large non coding RNA). https://lnkd.in/eBig_Gi View in LinkedIn

PSEUDOGENES. "Abundant pseudogenes are a feature of mammalian genomes. Processed pseudogenes (PPs) are reverse transcribed from mRNAs." https://lnkd.in/e22WJfQ View in LinkedIn

VIRUSES AND EVOLUTION. "A significant part of the human genome turns out to consist of viral genes and it is beginning to look as though the ability of viruses to transfer genes to and from their hosts and each other — so spreading genes throughout the biological world — may have been an important factor in the evolution of species." https://lnkd.in/eD4R5hH View in LinkedIn