New Insights into the Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics of Diatoms
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Biochemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 October 2025 | Viewed by 24
Special Issue Editor
Interests: diatoms; physiology; biochemistry; chemical ecology of phytoplankton and microphytobenthic dewellers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Diatoms are one of the most successful microphytobenthic and phytoplanktonic groups of unicellular photoautotrophic eukaryotes, occurring in all of the world’s oceans as well as freshwater and even terrestrial environments, accounting for around 20% of global productivity. Characterized by the presence of a silicified cell wall, or frustule, diatoms exhibit substantial diversity in terms of their size, morphology and phylogeny. This reflects their complex evolutionary origins, which involve secondary endosymbiosis between a heterotrophic eukaryote, red alga and likely green alga along with horizontal gene transfer from bacterial donors, resulting in rather unusual cell biological, biochemical and genetic characteristics.
Many diatom species can thrive in diverse and fluctuating environments due to their ability to both survive when nutrient availability is limited and respond rapidly when the limitation is removed. In such scenarios, diatoms can generally outcompete other microalgal species, often forming dense populations under optimal conditions. Knowledge of how biochemical and molecular genetic adaptation processes are coordinated is central to understanding responses to environmental fluctuations under climate change scenarios, the mounting impacts of anthropogenic pollution and their interrelationship. Diatoms are also of high biotechnological interest since they produce many high-value compounds. Therefore, recent advances in molecular genomics and the development of tools for assessing the genetics of diatoms might pave the way for their biotechnological modification and utilization.
To gather new insights into the biochemistry and molecular genetics of diatoms, this Special Issue welcomes case reports, original research articles and reviews addressing, but not limited to, the chemical interactions, molecular mechanisms and physiological responses of diatoms to environmental fluctuations, mutualistic and antagonistic symbionts, and the impacts of anthropogenic activity (e.g., climate change, pollutants).
Dr. Bettina Scholz
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- diatom
- environmental stress response
- frustule biosynthesis
- microalgal biotechnology
- ecological interactions
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