title: Modeling biosilicification at subcellular scales.
abstract: Biosilicification occurs in many organisms. Sponges and diatoms are major examples of them. In this chapter, we introduce a modeling approach that describes several biological mechanisms controlling silicification. Modeling biosilicification is a typical multiscale problem where processes at very different temporal and spatial scales need to be coupled: processes at the molecular level, physiological processes at the subcellular and cellular level, etc. In biosilicification morphology plays a fundamental role, and a spatiotemporal model is required. In the case of sponges, a particle simulation based on diffusion-limited aggregation is presented here. This model can describe fractal properties of silica aggregates in first steps of deposition on an organic template. In the case of diatoms, a reaction-diffusion model is introduced which can describe the concentrations of chemical components and has the possibility to include polymerization chain of reactions.
authors.affiliation: Section Computational Science, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Narjes
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Javaheri
authors.forename: Carolina M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Cronemberger
authors.forename: Jaap A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Kaandorp
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003198:Computer Simulation; D017377:Diatoms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D005898:Glass / Q000737:chemistry*; D008954:Models, Biological; D011161:Porifera / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D013347:Subcellular Fractions
chemical_list: C120461:sodium oxide-calcium oxide-silicon dioxide-diphosphorus pentoxide; D012822:Silicon Dioxide