High Growth Rate of Diatoms Explained by Reduced Carbon Requirement and Low Energy Cost of Silica Deposition.

ABSTRACT: The rapid growth of diatoms makes them one of the most pervasive and productive types of plankton in the world's ocean, but the physiological basis for their high growth rates remains poorly understood. Here, we evaluate the factors that elevate diatom growth rates, relative to other plankton, using a steady-state metabolic flux model that computes the photosynthetic C source from intracellular light attenuation and the carbon cost of growth from empirical cell C quotas, across a wide range of cell sizes. For both diatoms and other phytoplankton, growth rates decline with increased cell volume, consistent with observations, because the C cost of division increases with size faster than photosynthesis. However, the model predicts overall higher growth rates for diatoms due to reduced C requ

SUBMITTER: Inomura K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10269801 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature