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Fungi have cell walls which - unlike those of plants, which are made out of cellulose, xylan, and lignin - are instead made out of chitin, glucan, and mannans.

A fungus I'm planning on writing about is intended to be symbiotic - specifically, it uses an animal as a host in exchange for surrounding said animal's bones with the silicified corpses of its own cells, reinforcing them against shear stress.

Wood silicifies when dissolved silica seeps into the lignin within the walls of the wood's cells. Fungal cell walls don't contain lignin. Still, I want this fungus's cell walls to silicify. Via what biochemical processes can this occur?

Don't concern yourself with how this fungus came to be (evolved naturally, artificially created, etc.); all I care about is the biochemistry behind it being sound.

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  • $\begingroup$ It looks like you've answered your own question they armor the bones via silicification. You linked to an article that discusses biological silicification. What do you need us for? $\endgroup$
    – sphennings
    Apr 25, 2022 at 0:04
  • $\begingroup$ @sphennings I'm not asking how the fungus armors the bones of its host - it armors them via letting its cells turn into silica. I know that already. I'm asking HOW its cells turn into silica, since they don't contain lignin. Let me edit to clarify that. $\endgroup$
    – KEY_ABRADE
    Apr 25, 2022 at 0:09
  • $\begingroup$ You've linked to articles that discuss biological silicification with citations to even more articles. What are you asking us for that isn't covered there? $\endgroup$
    – sphennings
    Apr 25, 2022 at 0:13
  • $\begingroup$ @sphennings I'm asking how a fungus's cell walls can solidify when they don't contain lignin, since lignin is apparently part and parcel to silicification. $\endgroup$
    – KEY_ABRADE
    Apr 25, 2022 at 0:18
  • $\begingroup$ In your wiki article none of the silicification that occurs on biological timescales involves lignin. Silicification of lignin happens on geologic timescales. Reread the wikipedia article on silicification again, especially the bit on biological silicification, and diatoms. $\endgroup$
    – sphennings
    Apr 25, 2022 at 0:23

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You seem to have skipped over the section of your article on silicification that discusses biological silicification to only focus on the section of the article that discusses the petrification of wood. That's super cool but petrifying wood happens on a geological timescale, unlike the biological process you're asking about. Fortunately the article also discusses cells that do exactly what you're asking about creating a silica shell as part of their cell wall.

Had you read that section you'd have read about Diatoms and their silica frustrules. Diatoms are super cool single cellular algae that create some of the most beautiful shells of silica, around their cell wall. This is the exact behavior you are asking about. Even better should you read the section of the diatom article on silica metabolism they describe the mechanism by which diatoms produce their beautiful glass armor.

The biogenic silica composing the cell wall is synthesised intracellularly by the polymerisation of silicic acid monomers. This material is then extruded to the cell exterior and added to the wall.

You may want to follow this up by reading the article on biogenic silica if you want more information about how other lifeforms produce silica on biologic timescalse.

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