Evolution of the diatoms: insights from fossil, biological and molecular data

By P. Sims, David G. Mann, Linda K. Medlin. 2006

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P.A. Sims, D.G. Mann and L.K. Medlin. 2006. Evolution of the diatoms: insights from fossil, biological and molecular data.Phycologia 45: 361–402. DOI: 10.2216/05-22.1 Molecular sequence analyses have yielded many important insights into diatom evolution, but there have been few attempts to relate these to the extensive fossil record of diatoms, probably because of unfamiliarity with the data available, which are scattered widely through the geological literature. We review the main features of molecular phylogenies and concentrate on the correspondence between these and the fossil record; we also review the evolution of major morphological, cytological and life cycle characteristics, and possible diatom origins. The first physical remains of diatoms are from the Jurassic, and well-preserved, diverse floras are available from the Lower Cretaceous. Though these are unequivocally identifiable as centric diatoms, none except a possible Stephanopyxis can be unequivocally linked to lineages of extant diatoms, although it is almost certain that members of the Coscinodiscophyceae (radial centrics) and Mediophyceae (polar centrics) were present; some display curious morphological features that hint at an unorthodox cell division mechanism and life cycle. It seems most likely that the earliest diatoms were marine, but recently discovered fossil deposits hint that episodes of terrestrial colonization may have occurred in the Mesozoic, though the main invasion of freshwaters appears to have been delayed until the Cenozoic. By the Upper Cretaceous, many lineages are present that can be convincingly related to extant diatom taxa. Pennate diatoms appear in the late Cretaceous and raphid diatoms in the Palaeocene, though molecular phylogenies imply that raphid diatoms did in fact evolve considerably earlier. Recent evidence shows that diatoms are substantially underclassified at the species level, with many semicryptic or cryptic species to be recognized; however, there is little prospect of being able to discriminate between such taxa in fossil material.

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Citations in the corpus

Transcriptional responses of three model diatoms to nitrate limitation of growth (2014, background): “They first appeared in the fossil record about 190 million years ago (Sims et al., 2006) and subsequently diverged into four main groups—the radial and bi/multipolar centric diatoms and the more recently diverged raphid and araphid pennate diatoms (Kooistra et al., 2007).”
Thoughts on the evolution and ecological niche of diatoms (2021, background): “…as siliceous structures (exterior scales, internal skeletons, cysts, frustules) are broadly found in plastid-containing stramenopiles (Bacillariophyceae, Dictyochophyceae, Synurophyceae, Chrysophyceae, Parmophyceae, Xanthophyceae; van den Hoek et al. 1995, Graham and Wilcox 2000, Sims et al. 2006).”
Global biogeochemical impacts of phytoplankton: a trait‐based perspective (2015, background): “WHETHER IN LIFE OR IN DEATH: FRESH PERSPECTIVES ON HOW PLANTS AFFECT”
Unveiling the mysteries of phytoplankton life cycles: patterns and opportunities behind complexity (2011, background): “It has been suggested that most of the diatoms that survived the K-T event 65 Mya (which killed off dinosaurs) were spore-formers (Sims et al., 2006).”
The life of diatoms in the world's oceans (2009, background): “, although the earliest well-preserved diatom fossils come from the Early Jurassic, some 190 Myr ag”
A preliminary multi gene phylogeny of the diatoms (Bacillariophyta): Challenges for future research (2010, background): “Theriot et al. (2009) have previously remarked on the lack of strong support for or against the monophyly of each of the radial centrics and the polar centrics. Our study suggests that addition of chloroplast genes may lead to rejection of this hypothesis. Certainly these data reinforce the grade-li”
A molecular clock for coccolithophores and implications for selectivity of phytoplankton extinctions across the K/T boundary (2008, background): “, 1997), although silicoflagellates do show a drastic extinction (Perch-Nielsen, 1985) and benthic diatoms come through the event relatively unscathed (Sims et al., 2006).”