The iron oxide mineral magnetite (Fe 3 O 4 ) is produced by various organisms to exploit magnetic and mechanical properties. Magnetotactic bacteria have become one of the best model organisms for studying magnetite biomineralization, as their genomes are sequenced and tools are available for their genetic manipulation. However, the chemical route by which magnetite is formed intracellularly within the so-called magnetosomes has remained a matter of debate. Here we used X-ray absorption spectroscopy at cryogenic temperatures and transmission electron microscopic imaging techniques to chemically characterize and spatially resolve the mechanism of biomineralization in those microorganisms. We show that magnetite forms through phase transformation from a highly disordered phosphate-rich ferric hydroxide phase, consistent with prokaryotic ferritins, via transient nanometric ferric (oxyhydr)oxide intermediates within the magnetosome organelle. This pathway remarkably resembles recent results on synthetic magnetite formation and bears a high similarity to suggested mineralization mechanisms in higher organisms.ferrihydrite | geomagnetism | hematite | nanoparticles | precursors

Magnetotactic bacteria align along the Earth's magnetic field using an organelle called the magnetosome, a biomineralized magnetite (Fe(II)Fe(III)2O4) or greigite (Fe(II)Fe(III)2S4) crystal embedded in a lipid vesicle. Although the need for both iron(II) and iron(III) is clear, little is known about the biological mechanisms controlling their ratio. Here we present the structure of the magnetosome-associated protein MamP and find that it is built on a unique arrangement of a self-plugged PDZ domain fused to two magnetochrome domains, defining a new class of c-type cytochrome exclusively found in magnetotactic bacteria. Mutational analysis, enzyme kinetics, co-crystallization with iron(II) and an in vitro MamP-assisted magnetite production assay establish MamP as an iron oxidase that contributes to the formation of iron(III) ferrihydrite eventually required for magnetite crystal growth in vivo. These results demonstrate the molecular mechanisms of iron management taking place inside the magnetosome and highlight the role of magnetochrome in iron biomineralization.

We show that we can select magnetically steerable nanopropellers from a set of carbon coated aggregates of magnetic nanoparticles using weak homogeneous rotating magnetic fields. The carbon coating can be functionalized, enabling a wide range of applications. Despite their arbitrary shape, all nanostructures propel parallel to the vector of rotation of the magnetic field. We use a simple theoretical model to find experimental conditions to select nanopropellers which are predominantly smaller than previously published ones.

The room temperature co-precipitation of ferrous and ferric iron under alkaline conditions typically yields superparamagnetic magnetite nanoparticles below a size of 20 nm. We show that at pH  =  9 this method can be tuned to grow larger particles with single stable domain magnetic (> 20–30 nm) or even multi-domain behavior (> 80 nm). The crystal growth kinetics resembles surprisingly observations of magnetite crystal formation in magnetotactic bacteria. The physicochemical parameters required for mineralization in these organisms are unknown, therefore this study provides insight into which conditions could possibly prevail in the biomineralizing vesicle compartments (magnetosomes) of these bacteria.

Magnetotactic bacteria are Gram-negative bacteria that navigate along geomagnetic fields using the magnetosome, an organelle that consists of a membrane-enveloped magnetic nanoparticle. Magnetite formation and its properties are controlled by a specific set of proteins. MamC is a small magnetosome-membrane protein that is known to be active in iron biomineralization but its mechanism has yet to be clarified. Here, we studied the relationship between the MamC magnetite-interaction loop (MIL) structure and its magnetite interaction using an inert biomineralization protein-MamC chimera. Our determined structure shows an alpha-helical fold for MamC-MIL with highly charged surfaces. Additionally, the MamC-MIL induces the formation of larger magnetite crystals compared to protein-free and inert biomineralization protein control experiments. We suggest that the connection between the MamC-MIL structure and the protein's charged surfaces is crucial for magnetite binding and thus for the size control of the magnetite nanoparticles.