Molecular Evolution of Tubulins in Diatoms.

Microtubules are formed by α- and β-tubulin heterodimers nucleated with γ-tubulin. Tubulins are conserved eukaryotic proteins. Previously, it was shown that microtubules are involved in diatom silica frustule morphogenesis.

De novo transcriptome assembly and analysis of the freshwater araphid diatom Fragilaria radians, Lake Baikal.

Diatoms are a group of eukaryotic microalgae populating almost all aquatic and wet environments. Their abundance and species diversity make these organisms significant contributors to biogeochemical cycles and important components of aquatic ecosystems. Although significant progress has been made in studies of Diatoms (Bacillariophyta) over the last two decades, since the spread of "omics" technologies, our current knowledge of the molecular processes and gene regulatory networks that facilitate environmental adaptation remain incomplete.

Extensive Contamination of Water with Saxitoxin Near the Dam of the Irkutsk Hydropower Station Reservoir (East Siberia, Russia).

An area of discolored water 50 m wide and 30 m long was found in September 2017 close to the dam of the Irkutsk hydroelectric power station. Water from this spot was sampled for investigation in the present study. Microscopic analysis revealed that the suspended matter in the sample was composed of clumps of filaments, vegetative cells, akinetes and heterocysts that formed short filaments and solitary cells.

A family of silicon transporter structural genes in a pennate diatom Synedra ulna subsp. danica (Kütz.) Skabitsch.

Silicon transporters (SIT) are the proteins, which capture silicic acid in the aquatic environment and direct it across the plasmalemma to the cytoplasm of diatoms. Diatoms utilize silicic acid to build species-specific ornamented exoskeletons and make a significant contribution to the global silica cycle, estimated at 240 ±40 Tmol a year. Recently SaSIT genes of the freshwater araphid pennate diatom Synedra acus subsp.

Silica-containing inclusions in the cytoplasm of diatom Synedra acus.

Cells of the araphid pennate diatom Synedra acus subsp. radians contain large inclusion (1-15 μm) storing silica, as revealed by transmission electron microscopy and EDX-analysis. The size of the inclusions increases with the time of cultivation of diatoms.