Abstract
A unique structural feature of diatoms is their hierarchically patterned siliceous cell wall. Silicon uptake, storage, and processing are necessary for the intracellular synthesis of these cell walls. Uptake occurs from the natural habitats, that is, salt-water or fresh-water reservoirs. Dissolved silicon is predominantly taken up as monosilicic acid, Si(OH)4. The required intracellular silicon concentrations are much higher than typical environmental concentrations. Therefore, stabilization and storage inside the cell are necessary. Silicic acid transporters (SITs) were identified and studied within the last decades. These proteins are found in all different diatom lineages. They are able to transport silicic acid into the cell interior. SITs are transmembrane proteins and work as silicic acid/sodium symporters. After silicic acid uptake, it must be stabilized against uncontrolled polycondensation and stored in the cell interior. Different models of silicon storage by diatoms are discussed. Moreover, the incorporation of different “foreign” inorganic elements, like iron or aluminum, in diatom biosilica occurs and can influence the structure. This chapter deals with the chemical transformation of silicic acid during uptake and transport before the start of cell wall silicification. Note that the molecular regulation of cell wall biosynthesis is the topic of another chapter.
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Abbreviations
- cDNA:
-
Complementary deoxyribonucleic acid
- cryo-FIB-SEM:
-
Cryo-focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy
- EDX:
-
Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy
- EPR:
-
Electron paramagnetic resonance
- GXQ (X = Q, G, R, M):
-
Sequence motif (G: glycine, Q: glutamine, R: arginine, M: methionine)
- IR:
-
Infrared
- ITC:
-
Isothermal titration calorimetry
- K M :
-
Michaelis constant (in the Michaelis-Menten kinetics)
- MAS:
-
Magic angle spinning
- Men+:
-
Exchangeable counter ions like Na+, K+ or Ca2+
- mRNA:
-
Messenger ribonucleic acid
- NMR:
-
Nuclear magnetic resonance
- NP:
-
Nanoparticle
- Qn:
-
Si(OSi)n(OH)4−n moiety (n = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4)
- SIT:
-
Silicic acid transport protein
- SITL:
-
Diatom-like silicic acid transporters
- SDV:
-
Silicon deposition vesicle
- SSP:
-
Silicon storage pool
- STV:
-
Silicon transport vesicle
- V max :
-
Maximum reaction rate (in the Michaelis-Menten kinetics)
- [Si]:
-
Concentration of silicon
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Prof. Nils Kröger (TU Dresden, Germany) for fruitful discussions. Thanks are further due to Prof. Kim Thamatrakoln (Rutgers University, New Brunswick, USA) and Dr. Assaf Gal (Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel) for their very helpful comments. Financial support from the DFG (FOR2038: Nanopatterned Organic Matrices in Biological Silica Mineralization, grant no. BR 1278/24-2) is gratefully acknowledged.
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Kolbe, F., Brunner, E. (2022). Silicic Acid Uptake and Storage by Diatoms. In: Falciatore, A., Mock, T. (eds) The Molecular Life of Diatoms. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92499-7_13
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