BCMaterials article back cover on Nanoscale

Confi guration of the magnetosome chain: a natural magnetic nanoarchitecture

This illustration depicts the Z-projection of electron cryotomogram of a magnetosome chain synthesized by the bacterium Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense . Rather than straight lines, magnetosomes are arranged in helical-shaped chains. The geometry stems from the fact that the eff ective magnetic moment of individual magnetosomes is 20° tilted out of the chain axis. The image includes a simulated chain together with a schematic representation of the considered competing mechanism in the simulation: magnetic force and lipid/proteinbased mechanism, modeled as an elastic recovery force.