Biological liquid crystals

Helical microstructures in molluscan biomineralization are a biological example of close packed helices that may form from a colloidal liquid crystal precursor in a twist--bend nematic phase

We demonstrate that nature has produced a close-packed helical twisted filamentous material in the biomineralization of the mollusk. In …

Katarzyna Berent, Julyan H. E. Cartwright, Antonio G. Checa, Carlos Pimentel, Paula Ramos-Silva, C. Ignacio Sainz-Díaz