title: Bicarbonate transport and extracellular carbonic anhydrase in marine diatoms.
abstract: In this article, we present new laboratory results examining the relative importance of HCO(-)(3) transport and extracellular carbonic anhydrase (eCA) in 17 marine diatom species. We observed significant variability in both HCO(-)(3) transport and eCA expression across a range of diatom species with different cell morphologies. All species we examined took up HCO(-)(3) through a direct transport mechanism, with the fraction of HCO(-)(3) transport ranging from 40 to 95% of total C uptake. eCA expression also varied significantly, with catalytic enhancement factors ranging approximately 10-fold among species. There was a significant positive correlation between HCO(-)(3) transport and eCA expression among the test species. However, neither HCO(-)(3) transport nor eCA expression was significantly correlated to cell growth rates or surface area to volume ratios. We did observe weak positive trends between the ratio of C demand:supply and HCO(-)(3) utilization/eCA expression, but these were not statistically significant. We are thus unable to provide a mechanistic explanation for the apparent variability in HCO(-)(3) transport and eCA expression in marine diatoms. This variability may, nonetheless, have important implications for the physiological ecology of oceanic diatoms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, 6270 University Blvd., Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4.
authors.forename: Cheryl L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Philippe D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Tortell
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001639:Bicarbonates / Q000378:metabolism*; D001692:Biological Transport; D002244:Carbon / Q000378:metabolism; D002256:Carbonic Anhydrases / Q000378:metabolism*; D017377:Diatoms / Q000145:classification / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D005110:Extracellular Space / Q000201:enzymology; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008386:Marine Biology; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology; D013045:Species Specificity; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D001639:Bicarbonates; D002244:Carbon; D002256:Carbonic Anhydrases