Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T21:42:54.118Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Intracellular aragonite crystals in the flesh-water alga, Spirogyra sp.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

S. Mann ,
H. Mann  and
W. S. Fyfe
S. Mann
Affiliation:
School of Chemistry, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, U.K.
H. Mann
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada
W. S. Fyfe
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Intracellular crystals of aragonite have been identified by selected area electron diffraction (SAED) in the freshwater filamentous alga Spirogyra sp. which grows sporadically as carpets in the Thames river, Ontario, Canada. The crystals are 2 to 24 µm in length, and characterized by a unique cross-shaped morphology, in which needle-like, or prismatic outgrowths develop from a common axis. Crystals may be dispersed through filaments, but tend to cluster as aggregates towards the centre.

Keywords

intracellulararagonite crystalsSpirogyraalgaeCanada
Type
Mineralogy
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 52 , Issue 365 , April 1988 , pp. 241 - 245
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arnott, H.J. and Pautard, F. (3. E. (1970) Calcification in plants. In Biological Calcification: cellular and molecular aspects (Sehraer, H., ed.). Appleton-Century- Croft Educational Division, New York, 375-446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borowitzka, M.A. (1982) Mechanism in algal calcification. Prog. PhycoL Res. 1, 137-75.Google Scholar
Borowitzka, M.A. (1984) Calcification in aquatic plants. Plant, Cell and Environ. 7, 457-66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brook, A.J. (1980) Barium accumulation by Desmids of the genus Closterium (Zygnemaphyceae). Br. Phycol J. 15,261-4. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brook, A.J. and Williamson, D.B. (1985) Needle-like inclusions in the terminal vacuoles of Closterium lunula (Miill) Nitzsch ex Rails (Desmidiaceae). Microscopy 35, 226-33.Google Scholar
Cabioch, J. and Giraud, G. (1986) In Biomineralization in lower plants and animals (Leadbeater, B. S. C. and Riding, R., eds.). The Systematics Association, Sp. 30, Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Carr, N.G. and Whitton, B.A. (1973) The Biology of Blue-Green Algae. University of California Press, Blackwell Scientific Pub., Berkeley and Los Angeles, 676.Google Scholar
Darley, W.M. (1982) Algal Biology. A Physiological Approach. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, 168.Google Scholar
Denizot, M. (1968) Les algues flori döes encrofaantes (à l'exclusion des Corallinacées). Thèse, Paris.Google Scholar
Kamiya, T. (1961) On the Spirogyra sp. containing calcium oxalate. Bull. Jap. Soc. PhycoL 9, 39-41.Google Scholar
Kreger, D.R. and Boere, H. (1969) Some observations on barium sulphate in Spirogyra. Acta bot. neerl. 18, 143-51.Google Scholar
Leadbeater, B.S. C. and Riding, R. (1986) Biomineralization in lower plants and animals. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 401.Google Scholar
Lowenstam, H.A. and Margulis, L. (1980) Evolutionary prerequisites for early Phanerozoic calcareous skeletons. Biosystems 12, 27-41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Okazaki, M. and Furuya, K. (1985) Mechanisms in algal calcification. Jap. J. Phycol. 33, 328-44.Google Scholar
Perkins, R.D. and McKenzie, M.D. (1972) Aragonite crystals within Codiacean algae: Distinctive morphology and sedimentary implications. Science 75, 624-6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Towe, K.M. (1978) Ultrastructure of calcite decomposition in vacuo. Nature 274, 239-40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westbroek, P., de Jong, E.W., van der Wal, P., Borman, A.H., de Vrind, J.P. M., Kok, D., deBruijn, W.C. and Parker, S.B. (1984) Mechanisms of calcification in the marine alga Emiliania huxleyi. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B304, 435-44.Google Scholar