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Auxospores are specialised cells in diatoms that are produced at key stages in their cell cycle or life history. Auxospores typically play a role in growth processes, sexual reproduction or dormancy.

Mechanism

Auxospores are involved in re-establishing the normal size in diatoms, as successive mitotic cell divisions leads to a decrease in cell size. This occurs because each daughter cell produced by cell division inherits one of the two valves that make up the frustule (a silica cell wall), and then grows a smaller valve within it. Consequently, each division cycle decreases the average size of diatom cells in a population. When its size becomes too small, a dividing diatom cell produces an auxospore to expand its cell size back to that which is normal for vegetative cells.

Auxospores can also play a role in sexual reproduction in diatoms, and may be formed after haploid gametes fuse to form a diploid zygote.

Finally, auxospores can be produced by diatoms to act as dormant stages, sometimes referred to as "resting spores." These are used to survive periods of time that are unfavourable to growth, such as the low-light period of winter or while nutrients are depleted.

Structure

The auxospore is covered by a flexible cell wall called perizonium, which replace the thin zygotic membrane when the auxospore originates from a zygote, and doesn't restrict cell growth. A few species don't form a perizonium, and has a wall of scales and imperforate silica instead. Usually the auxospore is photosynthetic and depends on light to grow, but with sufficient accumulated storage material before its formation, it can be formed formed without any further supply of energy. After maximal size has been reached, a new diatom with a rigid frustule, a so-called initial cell that is significally larger than its parent cells, is formed inside the auxospore which it eventually breaks free from.

References

1. ^ Hoek, C. van den, Mann, D. G. and Jahns, H. M. (1995). Algae : An introduction to phycology, Cambridge University Press, UK.
2. Assmy, P., Henjes, J., Smetacek, V. and Montresor, M. (2006). Auxospore formation by the silica-sinking, oceanic diatom Fragilariopsis kerguelensis (Bacillariophyceae). J. Phycol. 42, 1002-1006.
3. Chepurnov, V.A., Mann, D.G., Sabbe, K. and Vyverman, W. (2004). Experimental studies on sexual reproduction in diatoms. International Review of Cytology 237, 91-154.
4. Idei, Masahiko; Sato, Shinya; Nagasato, Chikako; Motomura, Taizo; Toyoda, Kensuke; Nagumo, Tamotsu; Mann, David G. (2015). "Spermatogenesis and auxospore structure in the multipolar centric diatom Hydrosera". Journal of Phycology. 51 (1): 144–158. Bibcode:2015JPcgy..51..144I. doi:10.1111/jpy.12261. PMID 26986265.
5. Idei, Masahiko; Osada, Keigo; Sato, Shinya; Toyoda, Kensuke; Nagumo, Tamotsu; Mann, David G. (2012). "Gametogenesis and auxospore development in Actinocyclus (Bacillariophyta)". PLOS ONE. 7 (8): e41890. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...741890I. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0041890. PMC 3411613. PMID 22870259.
6. Davidovich, N. A. (1998). "Transition to Sexual Reproduction and Control of Initial Cell Size in Nitzschia lanceolata". Diatom Research. 13 (1): 29–38. Bibcode:1998DiaRe..13...29D. doi:10.1080/0269249X.1998.9705433.
7. Sahoo, Dinabandhu; Seckbach, Joseph (16 December 2015). The Algae World. Springer. ISBN 978-94-017-7321-8.
8. Vanstechelman, I.; Sabbe, K.; Vyverman, W.; Vanormelingen, P.; Vuylsteke, M. (2013). "Linkage Mapping Identifies the Sex Determining Region as a Single Locus in the Pennate Diatom Seminavis robusta". PLOS ONE. 8 (3): e60132. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...860132V. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0060132. PMC 3603935. PMID 23527302.
9. Armbrust, E. V. (1999). "Identification of a New Gene Family Expressed during the Onset of Sexual Reproduction in the Centric Diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii". Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 65 (7): 3121–3128. Bibcode:1999ApEnM..65.3121A. doi:10.1128/AEM.65.7.3121-3128.1999. PMC 91465. PMID 10388712.

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