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SYNOPTIC DESCRIPTION OF THE PHYLUM BACILLARIOPHYTA

SYNOPTIC DESCRIPTION OF THE PHYLUM BACILLARIOPHYTA (HAECKEL 1878)

EUKARYA> CHROMALVEOLATA> HETEROKONTAE> BACILLARIOPHYTA
BACILLARIOPHYTA LINKS

Introduction

Hierarchical Classification

The following description comes from Werner (1977), Patrick and Reimer (1966), Round and Crawford (1990), Bold and Wynne (1985), Sze (1986) and Lee (1980), and Van den Hoek (1995).

I. SYNONYMS: Diatoms, bacillariophyta.

II. NUMBERS: >100,000 species (250 genera).

III. PHYLUM CHARACTERISTICS:

  • A. Structure and Physiology
    • Cell Form: Nonmotile unicells or colonies.
    • Flagella: Never present in vegetative forms; single anteriorly directed (text with tooltip) An anteriorly-directed flagellum extends in the direction of the motion of the motile cell. The interpretation is that the flagellum functions by pulling the cell. tinsel flagellum in centric sperm. The flagellum has a 9+0 structure. Mobility in pennate forms with a raphe (text with tooltip) A raphe is a slit in the frustule of some of the pennate diatoms. Those cells with a raphe are mobile. .
    • Basal Bodies: Single in motile sperm only.
    • Cell Covering: Elaborate silica box ( frustule (text with tooltip) A frustule is the wall or valve of a diatom. ) made of overlapping halves (called valves (text with tooltip) Valves are walls or frustules of diatoms. ). The region at which the valves overlap is covered by several overlapping girdle bands (text with tooltip) Girdle bands are organic bands that occur at the overlap of the of the two valves. .
    • Chloroplasts: Several yellow-brown chloroplasts with chlorophylls a (text with tooltip) Chlorophyll A is a primary photosynthetic pigment of all photosynthetic eukaryotes (in the chloroplasts) and Cyanobacteria. It is membrane-bound on thyllakoids and absorbs mainly in the blue and red ranges of visible light. Its structure is that of a tetrapyrrole with a magnesium in the center. That is bound to a long aliphatic alcohol (phytol). Chlorophylls a, b, c, d, and e, together with the bacteriochlorophylls have similar structures and vary only in the structures of their side chains. and c1 and c2 (text with tooltip) Chlorophyll C is a variant of Chlorophyll A. and a secondary photosynthetic pigment in the many of the photosynthetic heterokonts and dinoflagellates. ; also with B-carotene, fucoxanthin (text with tooltip) Fucoxanthin is a carotenoid secondary photosynthetic pigment that occurs in many of the photosynthetic eukaryotes like the heterokonts and haptotists. and other xanthophylls (text with tooltip) Xanthophyll is an oxygenated carotenoid secondary photosynthetic pigment that occurs in many of the photosynthetic eukaryotes. .
    • Food Reserves: Chrysolaminarin (text with tooltip) Chrysolaminarin (also called leucosin) is a storage carbohydrate that is a polymer of glucopyranoside units. Typically it is found in photosynthetic heterokonts. and oil.
    • Mitochondria: Tubular cristae (text with tooltip) Mitochondrial cristae that form as extended saccate structures or tubes are called tubular cristae. .
    • Golgi (text with tooltip) Golgi apparatus (also called dictyosome) is an internal membrane system of stacked flattened sacs. They occur in nearly all eukaryotes and are involved in storing and secreting cellular products. : Present.
    • Nucleus: Diploid.
    • Centrioles: Not present.
    • Inclusions and Ejectile Organelles: Not present.
  • B. Mitosis, Meiosis and Life History
    • Mitosis: Open without centrioles; nuclear division associated with production of a hypovalve (text with tooltip) A hypovalve is the smaller of the two overlapping valves of diatoms. .
    • Meiosis: Gametic meiosis (text with tooltip) Gametic meiosis occurs when gametes are the immediate results of meiosis. ; similar to mitosis but independent of frustule formation.
    • Sexual Reproduction and Life History: Vegetative cells diploid with gametic meiosis. Oogamy in centrics and isogamy in pennates.
  • C. Ecology: Common in the sea and in fresh water as plankton, on mud, and as epiphytes.
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By Jack R. Holt. Last revised: 02/26/2012
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