University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers said the tiny unicellular phytoplankton build their hard cell walls by depositing submicron-sized lines of silica, a compound related to silicon.

"If we can genetically control that process, we would have a whole new way of performing the nanofabrication used to make computer chips," said biochemistry Professor Michael Sussman.

A team led by Sussman and University of Washington Professor Virginia Armbrust has reported finding a set of 75 genes specifically involved in silica bioprocessing in the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana.

Sussman said that data will enable him to start manipulating the genes responsible for silica production and potentially harness them to produce lines on computer chips. That, he said, could vastly increase chip speed since diatoms are capable of producing lines much smaller than current technology allows.

The research appears in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.