The Ectocarpus genome and the independent evolution of multicellularity in brown algae

J. Mark Cock, Lieven Sterck, Pierre Rouzé, Delphine Scornet, Andrew E. Allen, Grigoris Amoutzias, Veronique Anthouard, François Artiguenave, Jean Marc Aury, Jonathan H. Badger, Bank Beszteri, Kenny Billiau, Eric Bonnet, John H. Bothwell, Chris Bowler, Catherine Boyen, Colin Brownlee, Carl J. Carrano, Bénédicte Charrier, Ga Youn ChoSusana M. Coelho, Jonas Collén, Erwan Corre, Corinne Da Silva, Ludovic Delage, Nicolas Delaroque, Simon M. Dittami, Sylvie Doulbeau, Marek Elias, Garry Farnham, Claire M.M. Gachon, Bernhard Gschloessl, Svenja Heesch, Kamel Jabbari, Claire Jubin, Hiroshi Kawai, Kei Kimura, Bernard Kloareg, Frithjof C. Küpper, Daniel Lang, Aude Le Bail, Catherine Leblanc, Patrice Lerouge, Martin Lohr, Pascal J. Lopez, Cindy Martens, Florian Maumus, Gurvan Michel, Diego Miranda-Saavedra, Julia Morales

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

668 Scopus citations

Abstract

Brown algae (Phaeophyceae) are complex photosynthetic organisms with a very different evolutionary history to green plants, to which they are only distantly related. These seaweeds are the dominant species in rocky coastal ecosystems and they exhibit many interesting adaptations to these, often harsh, environments. Brown algae are also one of only a small number of eukaryotic lineages that have evolved complex multicellularity (Fig. 1). We report the 214 million base pair (Mbp) genome sequence of the filamentous seaweed Ectocarpus siliculosus (Dillwyn) Lyngbye, a model organism for brown algae, closely related to the kelps (Fig. 1). Genome features such as the presence of an extended set of light-harvesting and pigment biosynthesis genes and new metabolic processes such as halide metabolism help explain the ability of this organism to cope with the highly variable tidal environment. The evolution of multicellularity in this lineage is correlated with the presence of a rich array of signal transduction genes. Of particular interest is the presence of a family of receptor kinases, as the independent evolution of related molecules has been linked with the emergence of multicellularity in both the animal and green plant lineages. The Ectocarpus genome sequence represents an important step towards developing this organism as a model species, providing the possibility to combine genomic and genetic approaches to explore these and other aspects of brown algal biology further.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)617-621
Number of pages5
JournalNature
Volume465
Issue number7298
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 3 2010

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Acknowledgements We would like to thank Dieter G. Müller for his help and advice. The project was supported by the French GIS ‘Institut de la Génomique Marine’, the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, the European Union network of excellence Marine Genomics Europe, the GIS Europôle Mer, the Inter-University Network for Fundamental Research (P6/25, BioMaGNet), the ‘Conseil Général’ of the Finistère department and the University Pierre and Marie Curie.

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