| Organisms: Diatoms | |
| Living Inside a Glass Box--Silica in Diatoms | |
| Introduction | p. 3 |
| Silica in Protozoa, Sponges and Higher Plants | p. 4 |
| Phaeodaria | p. 4 |
| Choanoflagellates | p. 4 |
| Silicoflagellates | p. 4 |
| Sponges | p. 5 |
| Plants | p. 5 |
| Living in a Glass Box--the Diatoms | p. 5 |
| Biosilicification in Diatoms | p. 7 |
| Conclusion | p. 8 |
| References | p. 9 |
| Components and Control of Silicification in Diatoms | |
| Introduction | p. 11 |
| Features of Diatom Cell Walls and Terminology | p. 12 |
| Transport of Silicic Acid into the Diatom Cell | p. 13 |
| Intracellular Silicic Acid Transport | p. 19 |
| Micromorphogenesis vs. Macromorphogenesis | p. 20 |
| Micromorphogenesis--the Nanostructure of Diatom Biosilica | p. 20 |
| Control of Micromorphogenesis | p. 34 |
| Macromorphogenesis--the Formation of Large-Scale Silicified Structures in the Diatom Cell Wall | p. 35 |
| The Silica Deposition Vesicle--the "Black Box" in the Process of Silicification | p. 47 |
| Conclusions and Future Prospects | p. 49 |
| References | p. 51 |
| The Phylogeny of the Diatoms | |
| Introduction | p. 59 |
| Approaches to Reconstruct Phylogenies | p. 60 |
| The Diatom Silica Frustule | p. 63 |
| Morphology of the Silica Frustule | p. 63 |
| Taxonomy Based on Characteristics of the Silica Frustule | p. 67 |
| The Phylogeny Inferred from Nuclear SSU rDNA Sequences | p. 69 |
| Phylogenetic Relevance of Taxonomy and Frustule Characters | p. 69 |
| The Radial Centrics | p. 72 |
| The Bipolar Centrics | p. 72 |
| The Bipolar Centric Toxarium | p. 74 |
| The Araphid Pennates | p. 76 |
| The Position of Pseudohimantidium | p. 77 |
| The Raphid Pennates | p. 77 |
| Phylogenetic Signal in Diatom Chloroplast Structure | p. 78 |
| Phylogenetic Signal in the Life Cycle and Auxospore Ontogeny | p. 80 |
| Gamete Formation | p. 80 |
| Auxospore Development | p. 82 |
| The Phylogenetic Position of the Diatoms Within Heterokonta | p. 83 |
| The Ancestry of the Diatoms | p. 83 |
| Origin of Pigmented Heterokontophyta and the End Permian Mass Extinction | p. 84 |
| Origin of the Silica Cell Wall Within Heterokonta | p. 85 |
| Historical Ecology | p. 86 |
| Palaeontology and Phylogeny | p. 89 |
| Conclusions | p. 92 |
| References | p. 92 |
| Silicon--a Central Metabolite for Diatom Growth and Morphogenesis | |
| Introduction | p. 99 |
| Silicon Uptake and Transport: Regulation and Influencing Factors | p. 99 |
| Uptake, Transport and Soluble Pools | p. 99 |
| Energy Requirement | p. 105 |
| Factors Affecting the Uptake and Transport Processes | p. 105 |
| Link Between Silicon Metabolism, Growth and Cell Division | p. 106 |
| Coupling Between Silicon Metabolism and Cell Growth | p. 106 |
| Cell-Cycle Regulation | p. 107 |
| Diatom Morphogenesis | p. 109 |
| Overview of the Morphogenesis Process | p. 109 |
| Differentiation Programs Involving Silicon Morphogenesis | p. 111 |
| Morphological Plasticity and Variation | p. 112 |
| Size Reduction and Polymorphism | p. 112 |
| Impact of Growth Conditions and Environment | p. 115 |
| Light, Major Nutrients and Temperature | p. 115 |
| Salinity and Osmotic Stress | p. 116 |
| Trace Elements and Pollutants | p. 117 |
| Regulatory Mechanisms in Silicon Metabolism and Morphogenesis | p. 119 |
| References | p. 120 |
| Organisms: Higher Plants | |
| Functions of Silicon in Higher Plants | |
| Introduction | p. 127 |
| Beneficial Effects of Silicon in Different Plant Species | p. 128 |
| Si-Accumulating Plants Versus Si Nonaccumulating Plants | p. 128 |
| Accumulation Process of Si in Si-Accumulating Plants | p. 128 |
| Effect of Si on the Growth of Si-Accumulating Plants | p. 130 |
| Effect of Si on the Growth of Si Nonaccumulating Plants | p. 133 |
| Functions of Si in Higher Plants | p. 134 |
| Stimulation of Photosynthesis | p. 134 |
| Alleviation of Physical Stress | p. 135 |
| Radiation Damage | p. 135 |
| Water Stress | p. 135 |
| Climatic Stress | p. 137 |
| Improvement of Resistance to Chemical Stress | p. 138 |
| Nutrient Imbalance Stress | p. 138 |
| Phosphorus Deficiency and Excess | p. 138 |
| N Excess | p. 139 |
| Metal Toxicity Stress | p. 140 |
| Mn and Fe Toxicity | p. 140 |
| Na Excess | p. 141 |
| Al Toxicity | p. 141 |
| Increase in Resistance to Abiotic Stress | p. 141 |
| Disease | p. 141 |
| Pests | p. 145 |
| Conclusion | p. 145 |
| References | p. 145 |
| Silicon in Plants | |
| Introduction | p. 149 |
| Silicon in Monocots | p. 149 |
| SiO[subscript 2] Deposits in Monocots | p. 150 |
| Silicic Acid in Monocots | p. 150 |
| Si in Dicots | p. 154 |
| Si in Cell Walls | p. 156 |
| Formation of SiO[subscript 2] Deposits in Plants | p. 157 |
| Uptake and Long-Distance Transport | p. 158 |
| References | p. 158 |
| Organisms: Sponges | |
| Silica Deposition in Demosponges | |
| Introduction | p. 163 |
| The Cells Involved | p. 170 |
| The Axial Filament | p. 172 |
| Extracellular Versus Intracellular Silica Deposition: the Role of Membranes | p. 178 |
| The Process of Silica Polymerization | p. 180 |
| Environmental Factors Modulating Silica Deposition | p. 184 |
| The Future | p. 188 |
| References | p. 189 |
| Molecular Mechanism of Spicule Formation in the Demosponge Suberites domuncula: Silicatein - Collagen - Myotrophin | |
| Introduction | p. 195 |
| Sponges | p. 195 |
| Spiculogenesis | p. 197 |
| The Model Test System: Primmorphs | p. 197 |
| Effect of Silicon on the Spicule Formation | p. 200 |
| Silicon-Responsive Genes | p. 200 |
| Silicatein | p. 200 |
| Collagen | p. 201 |
| Myotrophin | p. 203 |
| Effect of Silicon on Silicon-Responsive Genes | p. 205 |
| Inhibition of Biosilica Formation by Germanium | p. 206 |
| Proposed Pathway for Spicule Formation | p. 207 |
| Expression of Silicatein in Primmorphs and in Sponge Tissue | p. 208 |
| Biosilica Formation | p. 210 |
| Silicatein cDNA Expression | p. 210 |
| Silicatein Enzyme Assay | p. 211 |
| Effect of Iron | p. 213 |
| Effect of Iron on the Expression of Ferritin, Septin and Scavenger Receptor in Primmorphs | p. 214 |
| Conclusion | p. 214 |
| References | p. 217 |
| Biotechnology | |
| Biotechnological Advances in Biosilicification | |
| Introduction | p. 225 |
| Silicon Transport in Diatoms | p. 227 |
| Proteins Closely Associated with the Silica Wall of Diatoms | p. 230 |
| Polycationic Peptides and Polyamines Accelerate Silica Condensation | p. 231 |
| Employing Silica-Condensing Peptides to Fabricate Nanostructured Devices | p. 234 |
| Polycondensation-Catalyzing, Structure-Directing Catalytic Proteins from Sponge Biosilica | p. 236 |
| Structure-Directing Polycondensation-Catalyzing Diblock Copolypeptides | p. 239 |
| Gene Expression During Sponge Development | p. 240 |
| The Biological Precursor for Silica Synthesis | p. 241 |
| Recognition of Inorganic Compounds Using Phage Display | p. 241 |
| Future Prospects | p. 244 |
| References | p. 245 |
| Silicase, an Enzyme Which Degrades Biogenous Amorphous Silica: Contribution to the Metabolism of Silica Deposition in the Demosponge Suberites domuncula | |
| Introduction | p. 249 |
| Siliceous Spicule Turnover | p. 250 |
| Screening for Silica Degrading Enzymes | p. 251 |
| The Model Test System: Primmorphs | p. 251 |
| "Differential Display" of Transcripts | p. 252 |
| Cloning of the Gene Encoding the Silicase | p. 253 |
| Silicase | p. 254 |
| Phylogenetic Analysis of Silicase | p. 255 |
| Cloning of a Marker Gene of the Intermediary Metabolism | p. 255 |
| Preparation of Recombinant Silicase | p. 258 |
| Enzymatic Activities of Recombinant Silicase | p. 258 |
| Carbonic Anhydrase Activity | p. 259 |
| Silicase Activity | p. 260 |
| Expression of Silicase in Response to Silicon | p. 261 |
| Proposed Mechanism of Action of Silicase | p. 262 |
| Conclusion | p. 265 |
| References | p. 266 |
| Studies of Biosilicas; Structural Aspects, Chemical Principles, Model Studies and the Future | |
| Terminology | p. 269 |
| Introduction | p. 269 |
| Structural Chemistry of Biosilicas | p. 271 |
| Organic Matrix-Controlled Silica Production in Biological Organisms | p. 274 |
| The Chemistry of Silica Formation | p. 276 |
| Silica Chemistry in Aqueous Solution | p. 276 |
| Effects of pH and M[superscript +] Ion Identity on Speciation in Aqueous Solution | p. 280 |
| Silica Chemistry in Non-Aqueous Solution | p. 285 |
| Solution Additives and Model Precipitation Reactions | p. 286 |
| Rationale for Use of Model Precipitation Reactions; Experimental Approaches | p. 287 |
| Studies of the Effect of Biosilica Extracts on the In Vitro Formation of Silica | p. 288 |
| Biomimetic Studies of Silica Precipitation | p. 289 |
| Other Areas of Interest | p. 290 |
| Transport | p. 290 |
| The Significance of Hypervalency in Biological Silicon Chemistry | p. 291 |
| Future Directions | p. 293 |
| Molecular Engineering in Diatoms | p. 293 |
| Isolation and Identification: Labelling | p. 293 |
| Theoretical Studies | p. 294 |
| Conclusions | p. 295 |
| References | p. 296 |
| Silicon Biomineralisation: Towards Mimicking Biogenic Silica Formation in Diatoms | |
| Introduction | p. 301 |
| Biochemical and Physico-Chemical Characteristics of Diatomaceous Silica | p. 303 |
| Organic Composition | p. 303 |
| Chemical Aspects | p. 304 |
| Principles of Silica Synthesis | p. 304 |
| Silica Synthesis in Diatoms | p. 307 |
| Nanoscale Structure | p. 310 |
| Specific Surface Area | p. 310 |
| Coordination of Molecules of Biogenic Silica | p. 311 |
| X-Ray Diffraction and Wide-Angle X-Ray Scattering | p. 313 |
| Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering | p. 313 |
| In Situ Silica Synthesis | p. 321 |
| The Application of Templates | p. 321 |
| Synthesis of PEG-Templated Silicas | p. 322 |
| A New Concept: Mesophases in Structure-Directing Processes in Diatom Silica Biomineralization | p. 326 |
| Conclusions and Future Perspectives | p. 329 |
| References | p. 330 |
| Subject Index | p. 335 |
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