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Some pennate diatoms also exhibit a fissure along their longitudinal axis. This is known as a raphe, and is involved in gliding movements made by diatom cells; motile diatoms always possess a raphe. In terms of cell cycle , vegetative cells are diploid and undergo mitosis during normal cell division .
The diatom lineage may go back 180 to 250 million years ago (Mya). About 65 Mya, diatoms survived a mass extinction in which roughly 85% of all species perished. [6] Until 1994, the genus was known as Nitzschia, but was changed to Pseudo-nitzschia because of the ability to form chains of overlapping cells, as well as other minor morphological differences. [8]
Pseudo-nitzschia australis is a pennate diatom found in temperate and sub-tropic marine waters, such as off the coast of California and Argentina. This diatom is a Harmful Micro Algae [1] that produces toxic effects on a variety of organisms through its production of domoic acid, a neurotoxin. Toxic effects have been observed in a variety of ...
Diatoms are divided into two groups that are distinguished by the shape of the frustule: the centric diatoms and the pennate diatoms. Pennate diatoms are bilaterally symmetric. Each one of their valves have openings that are slits along the raphes and their shells are typically elongated parallel to these raphes. They generate cell movement ...
Nitzschia is found mostly in colder waters, and is associated with both Arctic and Antarctic polar sea ice, where it is often found to be the dominant diatom. Nitzschia includes several species of diatoms known to produce the neurotoxin known as domoic acid, a toxin responsible for the human illness called amnesic shellfish poisoning.
Diatoms generate about 20 per cent of the oxygen produced on the planet each year, [12] take in over 6.7 billion metric tons of silicon each year from the waters in which they live, [13] and contribute nearly half of the organic material found in the oceans. Diatoms are enclosed in protective silica (glass) shells called frustules.
Pleurosigma is a genus of widely distributed diatoms found abundantly in brackish to marine waters. It is a group of primarily pelagic or benthic species found in large populations on sediments, although some species are also found in planktonic samples. [1]
The silica skeleton of a diatom cell (called the frustule) consists of an epitheca and an hypotheca. The hypotheca is slightly smaller than the epitheca. During asexual reproduction both thecae form the epitheca of the new daughter cell and each daughter produces a new hypotheca. Therefore one daughter cell is always smaller than the original cell.