Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T06:45:49.355Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Cell Biology, Biochemistry and Genomics of Coccolithophore Biomineralization.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Elma L. González
Affiliation:
Dept. Ecology and Evolutionary Biol., Univ. California, Los Angeles, 90095-1606; U.S.A.
Betsy A. Read
Affiliation:
Dept. of Biology, California State University, San Marcos, 91093-0016, U.S.A.
Get access

Abstract

The coccoliths that form the outer cell covering of the unicellular coccolithophores are assembled in a coccolith vesicle. The coccolith vesicle maintains the conditions and protein carriers sufficient to import the raw materials (Ca2+ and CO32-) for calcite formation and, furthermore, to initiate and sustain mineralization. We have isolated the coccolith vesicle membrane on which a proton-pumping, vacuolar ATPase has been localized. The V-ATPase has been characterized and its membrane-spanning subunit c has been cloned and sequenced. We used the highly conserved sequence for designing and constructing probes and primers that allowed us to analyze expression patterns to show a direct relationship between expression of the gene and calcification. Our collaborative work has now turned to a genomics approach that will lead us to additional calcification-specific genes.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2005

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

1 Brown, M. R., Portugaliae Acta Biol. 95, 369384 (1974).Google Scholar
2 Wal, P. van der, Jong, E. W. de, Westbroekk, P., Bruijn, W. C. de, Mulder-Stapel, A. A., J. Ultrastruc. Res. 85, 139158(1983).Google Scholar
3 Paasche, E., Phycologia 40, 503529 (2002).Google Scholar
4 Haidar, A. T., Thierstein, H. R., Deep-Sea Research II 48, 19251956 (2001); M. Y. Cortes, J. Bollmann, H. R. Thierstein,. Ibid. 1957-1981.Google Scholar
5 Young, J.R., Henriksen, K., in Biomineralization: Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, edited by Dove, P.M., DeYoreo, J. J., Weiner, S., 54, 189215 (2004).Google Scholar
6 González, E. L., in Biomineralization of Nano- and Micro-Structures, edited by Baeuerlein, Edmund, (Wiley VCH, Weinheim, Germany, 2000) pp. 269283; in Biomineralization: Progress in Biology, Molecular Biology and Application, edited by Edmund Baeuerlein, (Wiley VCH, Weinheim, Germany, 2004) pp.217-228.Google Scholar
7 Balch, W. M., Holligan, P. M., Kilpatrick, P. A., Cont. Shelf Res. 12, 13531374 (1992).Google Scholar
8 González, E. L., Riebesell, U., Hayes, J. M., Laws, E. A.. Geochem. Geophys. Geosys. 2, 2000GC000052 (2001).Google Scholar
9 Kwon, D. K., González, E. L., J. Phycol. 30, 689695 (1994).Google Scholar
10 Araki, Y., González, E. L., J. Phycol. 34, 7988 (1998).Google Scholar
11 Corstjens, P. L. A. M., Araki, Y., González, E. L., J. Phycol. 37, 7178 (2001)Google Scholar
(a) Corstjens, P. L. A. M., González, E. L., J. Phycol. 40, 8287 (2004).Google Scholar
12 Sikes, C. S., Roer, R. D., Wilbur, K. M., Limnol. Oceanogr, 25, 248261 (1980)Google Scholar
13 Wahlund, T.M., Zhang, X., and Read, B.A.. 2005. In Proceedings of the INA Workshop on extant Coccolithophorid Research Crete., edited by Triantaphyllou, M., J. Micropaleontology 50; T. M. Wahlund, A. R. Hadaegh, R. Clark, B. Nguyen, M. Fanelli, B. A. Read. J. Mar. Biotech. 6, 278-290. (2004).Google Scholar
14 Nguyen, B.T., Bowers, R., Wahlund, T.M., Read, B. A.. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, (2005) (In Press).Google Scholar
15 Corstjens, P.L.A.M., Kooij, A.van der, Linschooten, C., Brouwers, G.-J., Westbroek, P., Jong, E.W. de Vrind-de. J Phycol. 34, 622630 (1998).Google Scholar