Guanine‐Based Biogenic Photonic‐Crystal Arrays in Fish and Spiders

Levy-Lior, Avital; Shimoni, Eyal; Schwartz, Osip; Gavish‐Regev, Efrat; Oron, Dan; Oxford, Geoff; Weiner, Steve; Addadi, Lia

doi:10.1002/adfm.200901437

Cited by 131 publications

(221 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…[10] Some sponge spicules form fibers with unique optical properties, [11,12] and regularly spaced platy guanine crystals are known to constitute the basis of structural colors in fish and spiders. [13] Although leaves have an intimate relation to light, and contain abundant minerals, little consideration has been given to the possible role of biominerals in leaf optics. The idea of silica 'glass windows' transmitting light into the leaf has been, for the most part, abandoned, [14] and to our knowledge only one study to date has proposed a light scattering function for calcium oxalate crystals present in a specialized shade plant.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Certain Biominerals in Leaves Function as Light Scatterers

et al. 2012

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Cystoliths are amorphous calcium carbonate bodies that form in the leaves of some plant families. Cystoliths are regularly distributed in the epidermis and protrude into the photosynthetic tissue, the mesophyll. The photosynthetic pigments generate a steep light gradient in the leaf. Under most illumination regimes the outer mesophyll is light saturated, thus the photosynthetic apparatus is kinetically unable to use the excess light for photochemistry. Here we use micro‐scale modulated fluorometry to demonstrate that light scattered by the cystoliths is distributed from the photosynthetically inefficient upper tissue to the efficient, but light deprived, lower tissue. The results prove that the presence of light scatterers reduces the steep light gradient, thus enabling the leaf to use the incoming light flux more efficiently. MicroCT and electron microscopy confirm that the spatial distribution of the minerals is compatible with their optical function. During the study we encountered large calcium oxalate druses in the same anatomical location as the cystoliths. These druses proved to have similar light scattering functions as the cystoliths. This study shows that certain minerals in the leaves of different plants distribute the light flux more evenly inside the leaf.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Certain Biominerals in Leaves Function as Light Scatterers

et al. 2012

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“…[1] Opaque white materials have to contain a sufficiently large number of scatterers and therefore usually require thicker, material-rich nanostructures than structural color arising from the coherent interference of light. [2,3] In nature, bright white appearance arises from the dense arrays of pterin pigments in pierid butterflies, [4] guanine crystals in spiders, [5] or leucophore cells in the flexible skin of cuttlefish. [6] A striking example of such whiteness is found in the chitinous networks of white beetles, e.g., Lepidiota stigma and Cyphochilus sp.…”

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confidence: 99%

Evolutionary‐Optimized Photonic Network Structure in White Beetle Wing Scales

et al. 2017

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Whiteness arises from the random scattering of incident light from disordered structures. [1] Opaque white materials have to contain a sufficiently large number of scatterers and therefore usually require thicker, material-rich nanostructures than structural color arising from the coherent interference of light. [2,3] In nature, bright white appearance arises from the dense arrays of pterin pigments in pierid butterflies, [4] guanine crystals in spiders, [5] or leucophore cells in the flexible skin of cuttlefish. [6] A striking example of such whiteness is found in the chitinous networks of white beetles, e.g., Lepidiota stigma and Cyphochilus sp. [7][8][9] Previous research investigating these beetle structures has shown that the chitinous network is one of the most strongly scattering materials in nature, and therefore the question arises whether this structure is evolutionary optimized for strong scattering while minimizing the Most studies of structural color in nature concern periodic arrays, which through the interference of light create color. The "color" white however relies on the multiple scattering of light within a randomly structured medium, which randomizes the direction and phase of incident light. Opaque white materials therefore must be much thicker than periodic structures. It is known that flying insects create "white" in extremely thin layers. This raises the question, whether evolution has optimized the wing scale morphology for white reflection at a minimum material use. This hypothesis is difficult to prove, since this requires the detailed knowledge of the scattering morphology combined with a suitable theoretical model. Here, a cryoptychographic X-ray tomography method is employed to obtain a full 3D structural dataset of the network morphology within a white beetle wing scale. By digitally manipulating this 3D representation, this study demonstrates that this morphology indeed provides the highest white retroreflection at the minimum use of material, and hence weight for the organism. Changing any of the network parameters (within the parameter space accessible by biological materials) either increases the weight, increases the thickness, or reduces reflectivity, providing clear evidence for the evolutionary optimization of this morphology. amount of employed material, thus reducing the weight of the organism. The brilliant white reflection from Cyphochilus beetles is assumed to be important for camouflage among white fungi and in a shady environment.In contrast to periodic photonic materials, for which the optical response is straightforward to calculate, the reflection of light from such disordered network morphologies requires a detailed knowledge of local geometry. [2,3,9,10] For these complex cases, the validity of the diffusion approximation is limited, since single scattering elements are difficult to be identified. [7] To fully understand the correlation between the structure and (optical) properties of complex materials, the detailed real-space structure in combination with a s...

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“…It is found widely in the integument and scales of many insects [35,42,43] and fish [46][47][48]. The photonic band structure relating to simple 1D multilayers can be considered using basic ideas of interference.…”

Section: Thin Film Interferencementioning

confidence: 99%

Light manipulation principles in biological photonic systems

Starkey

Vukusic

2013

Nanophotonics

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Abstract:The science of light and colour manipulation continues to generate interest across a range of disciplines, from mainstream biology, across multiple physics-based fields, to optical engineering. Furthermore, the study of light production and manipulation is of significant value to a variety of industrial processes and commercial products. Among the several key methods by which colour is produced in the biological world, this review sets out to describe, in some detail, the specifics of the method involving photonics in animal and plant systems; namely, the mechanism commonly referred to as structural colour generation. Not only has this theme been a very rapidly growing area of physics-based interest, but also it is increasingly clear that the biological world is filled with highly evolved structural designs by which light and colour strongly influence behaviours and ecological functions.

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Guanine‐Based Biogenic Photonic‐Crystal Arrays in Fish and Spiders

Cited by 131 publications

References 40 publications

Certain Biominerals in Leaves Function as Light Scatterers

Certain Biominerals in Leaves Function as Light Scatterers

Evolutionary‐Optimized Photonic Network Structure in White Beetle Wing Scales

Light manipulation principles in biological photonic systems

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