Silicic-acid uptake in diatoms studied with [68Ge]germanic acid as tracer

✍ Scribed by Farooq Azam

• Book ID: 104751265
• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1974
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 461 KB
• Volume: 121
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0032-0935
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00389321

✦ Synopsis

Uptake of silicic acid in the diatoms Navicula pelliculosa and Nitzschia alba was studied, using the natural isotope, ~ssi, or a radioisotope, 31Si. The rate of uptake of silicic acid was also determined by using [SSGeJgermanie acid as a tracer of silicie acid. At a given silieicacid concentration in the growth medium, the fractions of [6SGe]germanic acid taken up followed closely the fraction of silicie acid taken up in the same time period. When the initial concentration of silieic acid was varied at a constant (trace) concentration of [6SGe]-germanic acid, the uptake of 6SGe followed the fraction of silieic acid removed, and not the absolute amount removed from the medium, at all silicie-acid concentrations. The usefulness of this approach in studying silicic-acid uptake is discussed.