MACROALGAL CANDIDATES FOR GENOMICS

Waaland, J. R. 1 & Stiller, J. W. 21 Department of Botany, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195 USA; 2 Department of Biology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858 USA Macroalgae are important components of aquatic ecosystems. Some are harvested or cultivated for economic uses while others are of interest for their phylogenetic or systematic positions. Although most genes known from macroalgae have been isolated for comparative evolutionary analysis, some have been the subject of more detailed molecular investigations. We examine the current state of knowledge for several macroalgae as candidates for genomic study. Selection criteria for target taxa include features such as a well known sexual life history, availability of established laboratory cultures, mutant strains, basic genetic studies, fossil records, and ecological and economic importance. Among the algae to be considered are: Porphyra, Gracilaria, Ectocarpus, Macrocystis, Laminaria, Fucus, Ulva, Chara and Nitella. A strong case can be made for each of these taxa; however, we will emphasize Porphyra yezoensis because of its importance as a food source, its well‐characterized and easily manipulated reproductive biology, its relatively small genome size, and recent technical advances in genetic manipulation that should lead to fruitful exploitation of genomic information as it becomes available. Further, the genome of a red alga is an attractive target for comparison with those of other multicellular eukaryotes that have been the object of sequencing projects thus far.