Ecologists, material scientists pursue genetics of diatom's elegant, etc...(ith the genomic map the researchers chan...)
ith the genomic map, the researchers changed environmental conditions in laboratory cultures of Thalassiosira pseudonana, for example limiting the amount of silicon and changing the temperatures. Then researchers used whats called whole genome expression profiling to determine which parts of the genome were triggered to compensate.
Think of a plant on a windowsill that starts getting a lot more sunlight, Mock says. The new set of conditions will cause genes in the plant to turn on and off to help the plant acclimate to the increased light as best it can.
Scientists since the late 1990s have found only a handful of genes that influence diatom shell formation. The work with Thalassiosira pseudonana identified large, previously unknown subsets. A set of 75 genes, for example, was triggered to compensate when silicon was limited.
The researchers were surprised to find another subset of 84 genes triggered when either silicon or iron were limited, suggesting that these two pathways were somehow linked. Under low-iron conditions, the diatoms grew more slowly and genes involved in the production of the silica shell were triggered. Individual diatoms also tended to clump together under those conditions, making them even heavier and more likely to sink.
The response of thin and thick cell walls depending on the amount of iron available had been observed at sea but no one had a clue about the molecular basis, Mock says.
Considering that 30 percent of the worlds oceans are iron-poor, some scientists have suggested fertilizing such areas with iron so diatoms become more numerous and absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thus putting the brakes on global warming. If, however, adding iron causes diatoms to change the thickness of their shells then perhaps they wont be as likely to sink and instead would remain in the upper ocean where the carbon they contain might be released back to the atmosphere as they decay or are eaten.
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| Contact: Sandra Hines shines@u.washington.edu 206-543-2580 University of Washington Source:Eurekalert |
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 Ecologists, material scientists pursue genetics of diatom's elegant, etched casing |
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