Abstract
Multicellular red algae (Rhodophyta) have some of the most complex life cycles known in living organisms. Economically valuable seaweeds, such as phycocolloid producers, have a triphasic (gametophyte, carposporophyte, and tetrasporophyte) life cycle, not to mention the intricate alternation of generations in the edible “sushi-alga” nori. It is a well-known fact that reproductive processes are controlled by one or more abiotic factor(s), including day length, light quality, temperature, and nutrients. Likewise, endogenous chemical factors such as plant growth regulators have been reported to affect reproductive events in some red seaweeds. Still, in the genomic era and given the high throughput techniques at our disposal, our knowledge about the endogenous molecular machinery lags far behind that of higher plants. Any potential effective control of the reproductive process will entail revisiting most of these results and facts to answer basic biological questions as yet unresolved. Recent results have shed light on the involvement of several genes in red alga reproductive events. In addition, a working species characterized by a simple filamentous architecture, easy cultivation, and accessible genomes may also facilitate our task.
Highlights
Multicellular red algae (Rhodophyta) have some of the most complex life cycles known in living organisms
Like other algal groups, red algae comprise a myriad of species with different types of body architecture, ranging from the unicellular and filamentous to the blade or pseudo-parenchymatous as the most complex, in the case of industrially valuable seaweeds (Cole and Sheath, 1995)
The genome and symbiont-free genome have been sequenced (Chan et al, 2012; Nakamura et al, 2013), and 1% of the genes (10,327 total genes predicted) were annotated as related to reproduction in P. yezoensis, using the estimation provided by GO Slim in the Blast2Go software (Nakamura et al, 2013). This genomic approach always faces a serious constraint, since these genes are commonly assigned to putative biological processes and functions based on the information available for other organisms, that may lack genes and functions related to important life cycle or reproduction events in red algae
Summary
Multicellular red algae (Rhodophyta) have some of the most complex life cycles known in living organisms. Consensus that increasing our knowledge of the underlying molecular basis of cell growth, development and reproduction in this species, and in economical important seaweeds in general, will improve aquaculture practices (Sahoo et al, 2002; Nakamura et al, 2013).
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