Home • Emiliania huxleyi CCMP1516 v1.0
Coccolithophores are marine haptophytes that derive their namefrom the calcium carbonate coccoliths that blanket the cell. Theyextend deep into the tree of life and represent the third mostabundant group of phytoplankton in today’s oceans with some300 different species. The morphological diversity of theircoccoliths is preserved in a continuous and complete fossil recordspanning the last 200 Myr, and represents an important tool fordating and correlating strata, reconstructing past climate andoceanic conditions, and dissecting patterns of macroevolution.
Emiliania huxleyi (E. huxleyi) is the mostprominent coccolithophore and has attracted the attention ofscientists from fields as diverse as geology, biogeography,paleoclimatology, ecophysiology, material science, and medicine.E. huxleyi is distributed throughout the world’soceans and is linked to the chemical balance between theatmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere. Massive blooms of the algaecan cover 100,000s of square kilometers and can be detected viasatellite imagery due to the reflective properties of itscoccoliths. Because of its ecological success and its ability tofix inorganic carbon into both photosynthetic and biomineralizedproduct,E. huxleyi has significantly impacted thebiogeochemistry of the earth directing carbonate chemistry insurface oceans and exporting large amounts of C to deep watersediments. In addition to playing an important role in globalcarbon cycling,E. huxleyi also contributes to globalsulfur cycling. During grazingE. huxleyi produces theclimatically active trace gas dimethyl sulfide; emissions of whichmay contribute to marine cloud formation and climateregulation.
E. huxleyi is also of interest to those inbiotechnology. A group of secondary metabolites known aspolyketides thatE. huxleyi synthesizes possess a wealthof pharmacologically important activities, including antimicrobial,antifungal, antiparasitic, antitumor and agrochemical properties.The ultrastructure and optical features of the coccoliths, on theother hand, are being targeted for applications in nanotechnologyrelating to biomedical, telecommunications and optoelectronicdevices and/or materials.
