Diatom silica biomineralization: Parallel development of approaches and understanding

Hildebrand, Mark; Lerch, Sarah J. L.

doi:10.1016/j.semcdb.2015.06.007

Cited by 51 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…A distinct feature of diatoms is their silica-based cell wall that exhibits an intricate multi-scale pattern with structural elements spanning from micrometers down to tens of nanometers. The morphogenesis of the diatom biosilica is a highly complex process that occurs with the help of self-assembled biosilica forming templates2. Over the past decade, biochemical studies have identified several organic components (i.e.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Establishing super-resolution imaging for proteins in diatom biosilica

Gröger¹,

Poulsen²,

Klemm³

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

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The intricate, genetically controlled biosilica nano- and micropatterns produced by diatoms are a testimony for biology’s ability to control mineral formation (biomineralization) at the nanoscale and regarded as paradigm for nanotechnology. Previously, several protein families involved in diatom biosilica formation have been identified, and many of them remain tightly associated with the final biosilica structure. Determining the locations of biosilica-associated proteins with high precision is, therefore expected to provide clues to their roles in biosilica morphogenesis. To achieve this, we introduce here single-molecule localization microscopy to diatoms based on photo-activated light microscopy (PALM) to overcome the diffraction limit. We identified six photo-convertible fluorescent proteins (FPs) that can be utilized for PALM in the cytoplasm of model diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana. However, only three FPs were also functional when embedded in diatom biosilica. These were employed for PALM-based localization of the diatom biosilica-associated protein Silaffin-3 (tpSil3) with a mean precision of 25 nm. This allowed for the identification of distinct accumulation areas of Sil3 in the biosilica, which cannot be resolved by confocal fluorescence microscopy. The enhanced microscopy technique introduced here for diatoms will aid in elucidating the molecular mechanism of silica biomineralization as well as other aspects of diatom cell biology.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Establishing super-resolution imaging for proteins in diatom biosilica

Gröger¹,

Poulsen²,

Klemm³

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

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“…They are represented in nature with a large variety of species and shapes, circular, pennate, cylindrical, and star shape. Since longtime, diatoms attracted the attention of scientists to address their important ecological roles (i.e., in carbon and silicon biogeochemical cycles Armbrust, 2009) and to describe their Si-biomineralization process (Hildebrand, 2008;Kroger, 2008;Ehrlich and Witkowski, 2015;Hildebrand and Lerch, 2015). Their fascinating silica shell architecture called frustule has evolved along millions of years to ensure the vitality of the cell by protecting it from predators and infections, ensuring metabolic exchange, maintaining the cellular integrity, and eventually interacting with incident light.…”

Section: Optical Properties Of Diatoms Thecaementioning

confidence: 99%

Optical Properties of Nanostructured Silica Structures From Marine Organisms

et al. 2018

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Light is important for the growth, behavior, and development of both phototrophic and autotrophic organisms. A large diversity of organisms used silica-based materials as internal and external structures. Nano-scaled well-organized silica biomaterials are characterized by a low refractive index and an extremely low absorption coefficient in the visible range, which make them interesting for optical studies. Recent studies on silica materials from glass sponges and diatoms, have pointed out very interesting optical properties, such as light waveguiding, diffraction, focusing, and photoluminescence. Light guiding and focusing have been shown to be coupled properties found in spicule of glass sponge or shells of diatoms. Moreover, most of these interesting studies have used purified biomaterials and the properties have addressed in non-aquatic environments, first in order to enhance the index contrast in the structure and second to enhance the spectral distribution. Although there is many evidences that silica biomaterials can present interesting optical properties that might be used for industrial purposes, it is important to emphases that the results were obtained from a few numbers of species. Due to the key roles of light for a large number of marine organisms, the development of experiments with living organisms along with field studies are require to better improve our understanding of the physiological and structural roles played by silica structures.

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“…The key insight is that the assembly of biomaterials, like most morphogenesis, is not entropic but, instead, guided by interlocking molecular feedback loops at multiple length scales (Davies 2013). A diatom's frustule, for example, is assembled via a multistep, multiscale process that involves silaic acid import, proteincatalyzed condensation into nanometer-scale particles of amorphous silica, nucleation of the new cell wall inside the silica deposition vesicle, and patterned silica deposition guided by both templating proteins and the diatom's cytoskeleton (Gordon et al 2009;Hildebrand and Lerch 2015). In fact, for many biomaterials, we understand the nature of these feedback loops at the molecular level (Canty and Kadler 2002;McFarlane et al 2014); but the relationships between physical and biochemical processes, molecular mechanisms, genetic control, and environmental factors are so complex as to defy intuition.…”

Section: Frontier Two: Synthetic Biomaterials and Programmable Mattermentioning

confidence: 99%

Synthetic Morphogenesis

Teague¹,

Guye

Weiss

2016

Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol

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Throughout biology, function is intimately linked with form. Across scales ranging from subcellular to multiorganismal, the identity and organization of a biological structure's subunits dictate its properties. The field of molecular morphogenesis has traditionally been concerned with describing these links, decoding the molecular mechanisms that give rise to the shape and structure of cells, tissues, organs, and organisms. Recent advances in synthetic biology promise unprecedented control over these molecular mechanisms; this opens the path to not just probing morphogenesis but directing it. This review explores several frontiers in the nascent field of synthetic morphogenesis, including programmable tissues and organs, synthetic biomaterials and programmable matter, and engineering complex morphogenic systems de novo. We will discuss each frontier's objectives, current approaches, constraints and challenges, and future potential.

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Diatom silica biomineralization: Parallel development of approaches and understanding

Cited by 51 publications

References 74 publications

Establishing super-resolution imaging for proteins in diatom biosilica

Establishing super-resolution imaging for proteins in diatom biosilica

Optical Properties of Nanostructured Silica Structures From Marine Organisms

Synthetic Morphogenesis

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