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Structure and Morphogenesis of the Frustule

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The Molecular Life of Diatoms

Abstract

The intricate morphology of diatom cell walls has fascinated scientists since the invention of the light microscope more than 300 years ago. However, it was not recognized until 1844 that the diatom cell wall, termed frustule (from Latin frustulum = piece, chunk), is actually mainly composed of glass (amorphous SiO2 or silica). As more and more details of frustule structures from numerous species were revealed through improvements in light microscopy and the development of electron microscopy, it became increasingly mysterious as to how such amazingly complex inorganic architectures are produced by individual cells. The species-specificity of the frustule structure indicates that the blueprint for its morphogenesis is encoded in adiatom’s genome. Unveiling the machinery that executes this morphogenesis program is still ongoing (see also Chap. “Biomolecules Involved in Frustule Biogenesis and Function”). Here, we explain the general architectures of frustules and describe the main cellular events and key steps in their morphogenesis.

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Abbreviations

ER:

Endoplasmic reticulum

GFP:

Green fluorescent protein

MC:

Microtubule organizing center

Mya:

Million years ago

PSS:

Primary silicification site

SDV:

Silica deposition vesicle

SEM:

Scanning electron microscopy

TEM:

Transmission electron microscopy

VHA:

V-type H+-ATPase

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank David Mann (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, UK) and Shinya Sato (Fukui Prefectural University, Japan) for critically reading the manuscript. We are indebted to the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for financial support through grants KR1853/6-2 and KR1853/8-2 (to NK) in the framework of Research Unit 2038 (NANOMEE), and through a “Physics of Life” Starting Grant under Germany’s Excellence Strategy – EXC-2068 – 390729961– Cluster of Excellence Physics of Life of TU Dresden (to NK and BMF). BMF acknowledges support by the DFG through a Heisenberg grant (FR3429/4-1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. B CUBE, Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Iaroslav Babenko & Nils Kröger

  2. Cluster of Excellence Physics of Life, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Iaroslav Babenko, Benjamin M. Friedrich & Nils Kröger

  3. cfaed, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Iaroslav Babenko & Benjamin M. Friedrich

  4. Faculty of Chemistry and Food Chemistry, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Nils Kröger

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  1. Iaroslav Babenko
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  2. Benjamin M. Friedrich
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  3. Nils Kröger
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Correspondence to Nils Kröger .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Biologie du chloroplaste et perception de la lumière chez les microalgues, UMR7141, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Sorbonne Université Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, Paris, France

    Angela Falciatore

  2. School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK

    Thomas Mock

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Babenko, I., Friedrich, B.M., Kröger, N. (2022). Structure and Morphogenesis of the Frustule. In: Falciatore, A., Mock, T. (eds) The Molecular Life of Diatoms. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92499-7_11

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