Crust (geology) only planet in our Solar System with plate tectonics. The crust is a thin shell on the outside of the Earth, accounting for less than 1% of Earth's volume. It is the top component of lithosphere: a division of Earth's layers that includes the crust and the upper part of the mantle. The lithosphere is broken into tectonic plates that move, allowing heat to escape from the interior of the Earth into space. The crust lies on top of the mantle, a configuration that is stable because the upper mantle is made of peridotite and so is significantly denser than
S-layer three (p3), four (p4), or six (p6) identical protein subunits. The center-to-center spacing (or unit cell dimensions) between these subunits range from 4 to 35 nm. Assembly of a highly ordered coherent monomolecular S-layer array on a growing cell surface requires a continuous synthesis of a surplus of S-layer proteins and their translocation to sites of lattice growth. Moreover, information concerning this dynamic process were obtained from reconstitution experiments with isolated S-layer subunits on cell surfaces from which they had been removed (homologous reattachment) or on those of other organisms (heterologous reattachment). S-layer proteins have the natural capability to self-assemble