Sexual reproduction and auxospore structure in Diploneis papula (Bacillariophyta)

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Idei M., Sato S., Watanabe T., Nagumo T. and Mann D.G. 2013. Sexual reproduction and auxospore structure in Diploneis papula (Bacillariophyta). Phycologia 52: 295–308. DOI: 10.2216/12–021.1We give a detailed account of sexual reproduction and auxospore development in the diatom genus Diploneis, principally from clonal cultures of the marine benthic Diploneis papula. Sexual reproduction of D. papula was apparently homothallic. After pairing side to side, cells entered meiosis, and each gametangium produced two gametes. Fertilization was physiologically anisogamous, and both gametes of one gametangium were active and those of the other gametangium passive so that the two zygotes were formed within or close to the ‘passive’ gametangium. Each gamete contained a single chloroplast. The zygote became surrounded by delicate incunabula that contained circular or elliptical scales; this confirmed recent observations that scales (or apparently homologous strips or plates) are quite commonly formed by the zygotes of raphid diatoms. Subsequently, a robust transverse perizonium was built up as the auxospore expanded, and the perizonium was comprised of a closed primary band at the centre and open secondary bands towards each pole. The ends of the secondary bands, which met along one side of the auxospore to form a suture as in other pennate diatoms, were curved inwards towards the centre of the auxospore. Novel features were the extension of the transverse perizonium to cover the tips of the auxospores (in other diatoms it stopped short of the poles, leaving an apical dome covered only by the incunabula) and a differentiation of the ends of the transverse bands into truncated and prolonged variants, which alternated along the suture. The longitudinal perizonium possessed the same highly conserved configuration as in other pennate diatoms, with a wide bifacial central band flanked by two other bands, which here differed in shape and structure. All the perizonial bands were fimbriate. The possible homology of the longitudinal perizonium to the thecae of vegetative cells was discussed. During formation of the initial cell, the protoplast contracted away from the perizonium, but the latter nevertheless moulded the outline shape of the initial valves, which were more strongly constricted than preauxospore cells and gametangia. Other Diploneis species produced either one or two gametes per gametangium.