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Biosilica Nanofabrication in Diatoms: The Structures and Properties of Regulatory Silaffins

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Nils Kröger  and
Nicole Poulsen
Nils Kröger
Affiliation:
School of Chemistry and Biochemistry School of Materials Science and Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology, 770 State Street, Atlanta, GA 30332-0400, U.S.A.
Nicole Poulsen
Affiliation:
School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
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Abstract

Diatoms are a large group of unicellular microalgae encased by silica cell walls that exhibit species-specific, mostly porous micro-and nanopatterns. Previously, from the diatom Cylindrotheca fusiformis unique phosphoproteins (termed silaffins) and unusually long polyamine chains (termed LCPA) have been identified and implicated in silica formation. However, analysis of the general role of silaffins in species-specific silica morphogenesis has been hampered by lack of data about silaffins from other diatom species. Recently, we have isolated the five major silaffins from the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana and aided by the genome data available from this organisms we were able structurally und functionally characterize these molecules. These data clearly support the hypothesis that silaffins play an important role in the nanofabrication of diatom biosilica. The basic insights into the mechanism of biomineral morphogenesis by silaffins and LCPA suggest future pathways for the fabrication of nanostructured minerals by synthetically available polymers.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 873: Symposium K – Biological and Bio-Inspired Materials and Devices , 2005 , K1.2
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2005

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