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Silacidins: Highly Acidic Phosphopeptides from Diatom Shells Assist in Silica Precipitation In Vitro
Author(s) -
Wenzl Stephan,
Hett Robert,
Richthammer Patrick,
Sumper Manfred
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.200704994
Subject(s) - biomineralization , diatom , template , chemistry , in vitro , phosphate , precipitation , amino acid , serine , chemical engineering , biochemistry , combinatorial chemistry , nanotechnology , materials science , botany , biology , phosphorylation , physics , meteorology , engineering
More decorative than wallpaper : Silica biomineralization in diatoms leads to intricate structures in the cell wall (see SEM image) and depends on structure‐directing templates formed by the electrostatically driven assembly of positively charged polyamine derivatives and polyanions. The title peptides are a family of biologically relevant polyanions present in diatom biosilica and composed mainly of serine phosphate and acidic amino acid residues.