0000000000386152
AUTHOR
Ronald Osinga
What to do in marine biotechnology?
Este artículo contiene 5 páginas, 1 figura
Selenium affects biosilica formation in the demosponge Suberites domuncula
Selenium is a trace element found in freshwater and the marine environment. We show that it plays a major role in spicule formation in the demosponge Suberites domuncula. If added to primmorphs, an in vitro sponge cell culture system, it stimulates the formation of siliceous spicules. Using differential display of transcripts, we demonstrate that, after a 72-h exposure of primmorphs to selenium, two genes are up-regulated; one codes for selenoprotein M and the other for a novel spicule-associated protein. The deduced protein sequence of selenoprotein M (14 kDa) shows characteristic features of metazoan selenoproteins. The spicule-associated protein (26 kDa) comprises six characteristic repe…