DIATOMS - Nature´s great architects

Diatoms (Bacillariophyta) are eucaryotic algae that are important at the base of marine and freshwater food chains. They are very widely distributed in the photic zones of the world.

Biologists have long been fascinated by the process of diatom cell wall biogenesis that results in the formation of highly ordered, species-specific silica patterns in a very short time-frame.