Publication Date:
2016-09-29
Description:
Diatoms are important primary producers not only in the oceans but also in the freshwater
environment. The efficiency of biomass formation strongly depends on the metabolic
regulation of carbon and nutrient assimilation. Recent studies have given evidence that many
metabolic regulations are quite different from green algae and higher plants. The major
known differences concern the following processes: (1) pigment biosynthesis, (2) lightharvesting
organisation, (3) mechanism of photoprotection, (4) regulation of photosynthetic
electron flow, (5) regulation of the enzyme activity in the Calvin-Benson cycle, (6)
photorespiration, (7) carbon aquisition and CO2-concentrating mechanisms, (8) synthesis and
breakdown of storage products under starvation, (8) nutrient uptake (9) adaptation to extreme
environments. This review summarises these differences phenomenologically and presents the
actual knowledge of the underlying mechanisms. The availability of whole genome sequence
data is an important basis to learn in more detail how photosynthesis in these tremendously
successful primary producers is regulated.
Type:
Article
,
PeerReviewed
Format:
text
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