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Science 13 September 2002:
Vol. 297. no. 5588, pp. 1848 - 1850
DOI: 10.1126/science.1074958
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Reports

A Proton Buffering Role for Silica in Diatoms

Allen J. Milligan, François M. M. Morel*

For 40 million years, diatoms have dominated the reverse weathering of silica on Earth. These photosynthetic protists take up dissolved silicic acid from the water and precipitate opaline silica to form their cell wall. We show that the biosilica of diatoms is an effective pH buffer, enabling the enzymatic conversion of bicarbonate to CO2, an important step in inorganic carbon acquisition by these organisms. Because diatoms are responsible for one-quarter of global primary production and for a large fraction of the carbon exported to the deep sea, the global cycles of Si and C may be linked mechanistically.

Department of Geosciences, Guyot Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: morel{at}princeton.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
An External {delta}-Carbonic Anhydrase in a Free-Living Marine Dinoflagellate May Circumvent Diffusion-Limited Carbon Acquisition.
M. Lapointe, T. D.B. MacKenzie, and D. Morse (2008)
Plant Physiology 147, 1427-1436
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Localization of Soluble {beta}-Carbonic Anhydrase in the Marine Diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum. Sorting to the Chloroplast and Cluster Formation on the Girdle Lamellae.
Y. Tanaka, D. Nakatsuma, H. Harada, M. Ishida, and Y. Matsuda (2005)
Plant Physiology 138, 207-217
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Silicification: The Processes by Which Organisms Capture and Mineralize Silica.
C. C. Perry and C. C. Perry (2003)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 54, 291-327
   Full Text »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)