Identification and functional characterization of cell cycle genes in the pennate diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum
Year: 2011
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Accounting for almost one fifth of the primary production on Earth, diatoms play a key ecological and biogeochemical role in our contemporary oceans. Furthermore, as producers of various lipids and pigments, and characterized by their finely ornamented silica cell wall, diatoms gained an emerging interest of different industrial fields, including biofuel production, nanotechnology and pharmaceutics. However, despite their major ecological importance and their high commercial value, little is known about the mechanisms that control their life cycle. Their ability to live and dominate in highly unstable and sometimes harsh environments, suggests that diatoms have evolved specific strategies to adapt to and survive in such conditions. Unraveling the regulatory mechanisms that underlie their unique life cycle strategies will therefore be of crucial importance to understand diatom ecology and evolution and to further exploit their industrial potential. In this thesis I aimed to gain insights in the genetic mechanisms and environmental factors that control the diatom cell cycle. Using a variety of molecular analyses, it is demonstrated that diatoms use a common eukaryotic base of cell cycle regulatory components to control their cell division, complemented with some novel diatom-specific features, including an expanded set of diatom-specific cyclins, which most probably are part of a complex integrative network allowing them to pace the cell cycle with the surrounding conditions.
Author: Marie J. J. Huysman
Language: English
Topic: Diatoms and Algae Research
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Award: G7547206763
OpenAlex ID: W2325316440