Phosphorus Uptake, Assimilation, and Metabolism: Making Energy and Genetic Material

Unlike nitrogen which makes up the backbone of amino acids and proteins, phosphorus facilitates biosynthetic processes by supplying the energy and genetic material to do so. Phosphorus holds the key to cellular metabolism. This chapter reviews the basic understanding of phosphorus transport and metabolism, the methods used to study these processes, and the implications of phosphorus forms and availably for phytoplankton community composition.