Crust (geology) centers, where partial-melting of the underlying mantle yields basaltic magmas and new ocean crust forms. This "ridge push" is one of the driving forces of plate tectonics, and it is constantly creating new ocean crust. That means that old crust must be destroyed somewhere, so, opposite a spreading center, there is usually a subduction zone: a trench where an ocean plate is being shoved back into the mantle. This constant process of creating new ocean crust and destroying old ocean crust means that the oldest ocean crust on Earth today is only about 200 million years old. In contrast, the
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