Wavelength and orientation dependent capture of light by diatom frustule nanostructures

The ecological success of diatoms is emphasized by regular blooms of many different species in all aquatic systems, but the reason behind their success is not fully understood. A special feature of the diatom cell is the frustule, a nano-patterned cell encasement made of amorphous biosilica. The opt...

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Main Authors:	Romann, Julien, Valmalette, Jean-Christophe, Chauton, Matilde Skogen, Tranell, Gabriella, Einarsrud, Mari-Ann, Vadstein, Olav
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Nature Publishing Group 2015
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4667171/

id	pubmed-4667171
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-46671712015-12-03 Wavelength and orientation dependent capture of light by diatom frustule nanostructures Romann, Julien Valmalette, Jean-Christophe Chauton, Matilde Skogen Tranell, Gabriella Einarsrud, Mari-Ann Vadstein, Olav Article The ecological success of diatoms is emphasized by regular blooms of many different species in all aquatic systems, but the reason behind their success is not fully understood. A special feature of the diatom cell is the frustule, a nano-patterned cell encasement made of amorphous biosilica. The optical properties of a cleaned single valve (one half of a frustule) from the diatom Coscinodiscus centralis were studied using confocal micro-spectroscopy. A photonic crystal function in the frustule was observed, and analysis of the hyperspectral mapping revealed an enhancement of transmitted light around 636 and 663 nm. These wavelengths match the absorption maxima of chlorophyll a and c, respectively. Additionally, we demonstrate that a highly efficient light trapping mechanism occurred, resulting from strong asymmetry between the cribrum and foramen pseudo-periodic structures. This effect may prevent transmitted light from being backscattered and in turn enhance the light absorption. Based on our results, we hypothesize that the multi-scaled layered structure of the frustule improves photosynthetic efficiency by these three mechanisms. The optical properties of the frustule described here may contribute to the ecological success of diatoms in both lentic and marine ecosystems, and should be studies further in vivo. Nature Publishing Group 2015-12-02 /pmc/articles/PMC4667171/ /pubmed/26627680 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep17403 Text en Copyright © 2015, Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Romann, Julien Valmalette, Jean-Christophe Chauton, Matilde Skogen Tranell, Gabriella Einarsrud, Mari-Ann Vadstein, Olav
spellingShingle	Romann, Julien Valmalette, Jean-Christophe Chauton, Matilde Skogen Tranell, Gabriella Einarsrud, Mari-Ann Vadstein, Olav Wavelength and orientation dependent capture of light by diatom frustule nanostructures
author_facet	Romann, Julien Valmalette, Jean-Christophe Chauton, Matilde Skogen Tranell, Gabriella Einarsrud, Mari-Ann Vadstein, Olav
author_sort	Romann, Julien
title	Wavelength and orientation dependent capture of light by diatom frustule nanostructures
title_short	Wavelength and orientation dependent capture of light by diatom frustule nanostructures
title_full	Wavelength and orientation dependent capture of light by diatom frustule nanostructures
title_fullStr	Wavelength and orientation dependent capture of light by diatom frustule nanostructures
title_full_unstemmed	Wavelength and orientation dependent capture of light by diatom frustule nanostructures
title_sort	wavelength and orientation dependent capture of light by diatom frustule nanostructures
description	The ecological success of diatoms is emphasized by regular blooms of many different species in all aquatic systems, but the reason behind their success is not fully understood. A special feature of the diatom cell is the frustule, a nano-patterned cell encasement made of amorphous biosilica. The optical properties of a cleaned single valve (one half of a frustule) from the diatom Coscinodiscus centralis were studied using confocal micro-spectroscopy. A photonic crystal function in the frustule was observed, and analysis of the hyperspectral mapping revealed an enhancement of transmitted light around 636 and 663 nm. These wavelengths match the absorption maxima of chlorophyll a and c, respectively. Additionally, we demonstrate that a highly efficient light trapping mechanism occurred, resulting from strong asymmetry between the cribrum and foramen pseudo-periodic structures. This effect may prevent transmitted light from being backscattered and in turn enhance the light absorption. Based on our results, we hypothesize that the multi-scaled layered structure of the frustule improves photosynthetic efficiency by these three mechanisms. The optical properties of the frustule described here may contribute to the ecological success of diatoms in both lentic and marine ecosystems, and should be studies further in vivo.
publisher	Nature Publishing Group
publishDate	2015
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4667171/
_version_	1613508691419463680

Wavelength and orientation dependent capture of light by diatom frustule nanostructures

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