In this paper published last week (Feb. 2019) lead by Thomas Beuvier, we used the synchrotron 3D Coherent X-ray Diffraction Imaging to study coccospheres of 7 species of Gephyrocapsa, Emiliania and Reticulofenestra with a resolution close to 30 nm. These precise nanotomography iof 45 coccoliths revealed remarkable size, mass and segment number variations, even within single coccospheres. In particular, we observed that coccolith mass correlates with grid perimeter which scales linearly with crystal number. Our results indirectly support the idea that coccolith mass is determined in the coccolith vesicle by the size of the organic base plate scale. The mass estimated on the same coccolithophores by the polarizing microscopy that we used in COCCACE are identical than those from the X-ray nanotomography, confirming the precision of the technics we use here.

In following figure we see in the two bottom rows, images of coccoliths where their lightness is proportional to their thickness. In the bottom row the images were taken by polarized microscopy and above by 3D-CXDI.