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

J. Mark Cock (1) , Lieven Sterck (2) , Pierre Rouzé (2) , Delphine Scornet (1) , Andrew E. Allen (3) , Grigoris Amoutzias (2) , Véronique Anthouard (4) , François Artiguenave (4) , Jean-Marc Aury (4) , Jonathan H Badger (3) , Bank Beszteri (5) , Kenny Billiau (2) , Eric Bonnet (2) , John H. Bothwell (6) , Chris Bowler (7) , Catherine Boyen (1) , Colin Brownlee (6) , Carl J Carrano (8) , Bénédicte Charrier (1) , Ga Youn Cho (1) , Susana M Coelho (1) , Jonas Collén (1, 9) , Erwan Corre (10) , Corinne da Silva (4) , Ludovic Delage (1) , Nicolas Delaroque (11) , Simon M. Dittami (1) , Sylvie Doulbeau (12) , Marek Elias (13) , Garry Farnham (6) , Claire M. M. Gachon (14) , Bernhard Gschloessl (1) , Svenja Heesch (1) , Kamel Jabbari (4, 7) , Claire Jubin (4) , Hiroshi Kawai (15) , Kei Kimura (16) , Bernard Kloareg (1) , Frithjof C. Küpper (14) , Daniel Lang (17) , Aude Le Bail (1) , Catherine Leblanc (1, 18) , Patrice Lerouge (19) , Martin Lohr (20) , Pascal J Lopez (21) , Cindy Martens (2) , Florian Maumus (22) , Gurvan Michel (1) , Diego Miranda-Saavedra (23) , Julia Morales (24) , Hervé Moreau (25) , Taizo Motomura (16) , Chikako Nagasato (16) , Carolyn A Napoli (26) , David R Nelson (27) , Pi Nyvall-Collén (1) , Akira F Peters (1) , Cyril Pommier (28) , Philippe Potin (1) , Julie Poulain (4) , Hadi Quesneville (28) , Betsy Read (29) , Stefan A. Rensing (17) , Andrés Ritter (1, 30) , Sylvie Rousvoal (1) , Manoj Samanta (31) , Gaelle Samson (4) , Declan C Schroeder (6) , Béatrice Ségurens (4) , Martina Strittmatter (14) , Thierry Tonon (1) , James W Tregear (12) , Klaus Valentin (5) , Peter von Dassow (18) , Takahiro Yamagishi (15) , Yves van de Peer (2) , Patrick Wincker (4)

1 Végétaux marins et biomolécules
2 PSB Center - Center for Plant Systems Biology
3 J. Craig Venter Institute
4 GENOSCOPE - Genoscope - Centre national de séquençage [Evry]
5 AWI - Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung
6 Marine Biological Association
7 IBENS - Institut de biologie de l'ENS Paris
8 SDSU - San Diego State University
9 AD2M - Adaptation et diversité en milieu marin
10 P3H - Phophorylation de protéines et Pathologies Humaines
11 Fraunhofer IZI - Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology
12 UMR DIAPC - Diversité et adaptation des plantes cultivées
13 CU - Charles University [Prague]
14 SAMS - Scottish Association for Marine Science
15 Kobe University
16 Institute of Algological Research [Muroran]
17 Fakultät für Biologie = Faculty of Biology [Freiburg]
18 SBR - Station biologique de Roscoff [Roscoff]
19 Glyco-MEV - Laboratoire de Glycobiologie et Matrice Extracellulaire Végétale
20 JGU - Johannes Gutenberg - Universität Mainz = Johannes Gutenberg University
21 ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris
22 IBENS - Institut de biologie de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure
23 Department of Haematology
24 MS - Mer et santé
25 OOB - Observatoire océanologique de Banyuls
26 University of Arizona
27 UTHSC - The University of Tennessee Health Science Center [Memphis]
28 URGI - Unité de Recherche Génomique Info
29 CAL STATE LA - California State University [Los Angeles]
30 LBCM - Laboratoire de Biotechnologie et Chimie Marines
31 Systemix Institute

Brown algae (Phaeophyceae) are complex photosynthetic organisms with a very different evolutionary history to green plants, to which they are only distantly related(1). 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(2-5), closely related to the kelps(6,7) (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(2) approaches to explore these and other(4,5) aspects of brown algal biology further.

Keywords: BIOLOGIE CELLULAIRE; algues brunes; phéophycées; flore marine

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Development Biology

J. Mark Cock, Lieven Sterck, Pierre Rouzé, Delphine Scornet, Andrew E. Allen, et al.. The $Ectocarpus$ genome and the independent evolution of multicellularity in brown algae. Nature, 2010, 465 (7298), pp.617-621. ⟨10.1038/nature09016⟩. ⟨cea-00906990⟩