Organisms: Diatoms.- Living Inside a Glass Box-Silica in Diatoms.- Components and Control of Silicification in Diatoms.- The Phylogeny of the Diatoms.- Silicon-a Central Metabolite for Diatom Growth and Morphogenesis.- Organisms: Higher Plants.- Functions of Silicon in Higher Plants.- Silicon in Plants.- Organisms: Sponges.- Silica Deposition in Demosponges.- Molecular Mechanism of Spicule Formation in the Demosponge Suberites domuncula: Silicatein-Collagen-Myotrophin.- Biotechnology.- Biotechnological Advances in Biosilicification.- Silicase, an Enzyme Which Degrades Biogenous Amorphous Silica: Contribution to the Metabolism of Silica Deposition in the Demosponge Suberites domuncula.- Studies of Biosilicas; Structural Aspects, Chemical Principles, Model Studies and the Future.- Silicon Biomineralisation: Towards Mimicking Biogenic Silica Formation in Diatoms.- References.
