What is the main component of a diatom shell?
a. agar
b. peptidoglycan
c. silica
d. calcium carbonate
e. paramylon

Answer

Hence, choice $(\mathrm{c})$ is the correct option.

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Biology

Chapter 21

Protist Evolution and Diversity

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Video Transcript

What is the shell off diatoms made up off? Well, if you notice diatoms have this glassy appearance and glass is made up of basically silica. So because Dia Dyson's looks classy than that's a sign that the shell is made up of silica. So that's sort of like one way of visually confirming. Obviously, there's other tests you can do to confirm that the chemical composition. But the main component of a diet and shell is silica. Diatoms are basically single celled algae that, ah, live in water, and they are very important to the ecosystem because they produce something like 20% of the oxygen on Earth. So very important, these guys. Ah, let's look at the other choices that we have here. Agar agar is a gelatin like material that is found in seaweed. Uh, ticktock. Lycan is what cell walls of bacteria are made up of. Calcium carbonate is found in the cells over at algae, not indict Toms and par Meilan is ah, carbohydrate, that is produced by you, Glyn. It's so it doesn't have to do anything with shell with the cell walls or shells. So, uh, correct answer is C silica. That's what ah makes up the shells of diatoms

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