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Molecular Research of the Seaweeds
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Molecular Research of the Seaweeds

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Molecular Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 352

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Scott F. Cummins

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centre for Bioinnovation, Seaweed Research Group, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, QLD 4558, Australia
Interests: molecular biology; functional genomics of marine organisms
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Andrew Eamens

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Seaweed Research Group, School of Health, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, QLD 4558, Australia
Interests: seaweed research; molecular genetics; RNA biology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Zubaida Patwary

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor Assistant
Centre for Bioinnovation, Seaweed Research Group, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, QLD 4558, Australia
Interests: seaweed molecular biology; omics research of marine organisms

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Seaweeds, being multicellular marine macroalgae, are primary producers that occupy a pivotal role in maintaining the ecological health of marine ecosystems. In aquaculture, numerous seaweed species are cultivated and harvested for food, feed, and biofuel production. Seaweeds are also used as biofactories as part of the initial stages of the manufacturing of wealth of other useful biomolecules. The usefulness and versatility of seaweeds as an aquacultural resource are readily demonstrated by the current estimates of a global market value of close to USD 15 billion.

Based on their pigmentation, multicellular marine macroalgae are typically classified into one of three groupings, including the red (rhodophyta), brown (phaeophyta), and green (chlorophyta) seaweed groups. Among these groupings, individual species which harbor desirable mutations affecting cell division and overall growth rate, pigmentation, and vegetative or reproductive development have been identified; however, to date, causative molecular alterations leading to the expression of these desirable phenotypic traits remains unknown. Failure to identify such mutations partly results from the tremendous genetic variation within and across the seaweed groupings, together with a current lack of available effective genetic tools for the molecular characterization of seaweeds. For example, only a low degree of gene order and structure has been identified across the 100-or-so micro- and macroalgae species where genome sequence-based resources exist.

Considering the tremendous ecological and aquacultural value of seaweeds, it is highly surprising that seaweed research has only more recently entered the realms of molecular biology and the ‘omics’ era of scientific research. Therefore, currently, the need to develop high-throughput omics tools, such as genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic approaches, to support the findings of traditional seaweed biological research, cannot be understated. Towards initiating this goal, this Special Issue of Plants invites the submission of original research studies or review articles on the current status of the molecular biology research and of other ‘omics’ approaches used in either the red, brown, or green seaweed groupings to advance our current molecular knowledge.

Prof. Dr. Scott F. Cummins
Dr. Andrew Eamens
Guest Editors

Dr. Zubaida Patwary
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • seaweeds
  • multicellular marine macroalgae
  • molecular biology
  • omics

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

27 pages, 1369 KiB  
Article
Insights into the Red Seaweed Asparagopsis taxiformis Using an Integrative Multi-Omics Analysis
by Min Zhao, Tomas Lang, Zubaida Patwary, Andrew L. Eamens, Tianfang Wang, Jessica Webb, Giuseppe C. Zuccarello, Ana Wegner-Thépot, Charlotte O’Grady, David Heyne, Lachlan McKinnie, Cecilia Pascelli, Nori Satoh, Eiichi Shoguchi, Alexandra H. Campbell, Nicholas A. Paul and Scott F. Cummins
Plants 2025, 14(10), 1523; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14101523 - 19 May 2025
Viewed by 152
Abstract
The red seaweed Asparagopsis taxiformis (Bonnemaisoniaceae, Rhodophyta) produces a bioactive natural product, bromoform, which, when fed to ruminant livestock, can eradicate methane emissions. However, to cultivate enough A. taxiformis to produce a yield that would have a meaningful impact on global greenhouse gas [...] Read more.
The red seaweed Asparagopsis taxiformis (Bonnemaisoniaceae, Rhodophyta) produces a bioactive natural product, bromoform, which, when fed to ruminant livestock, can eradicate methane emissions. However, to cultivate enough A. taxiformis to produce a yield that would have a meaningful impact on global greenhouse gas emissions, we need to advance our current understanding of the biology of this seaweed species. Here, we used both a domesticated diploid tetrasporophyte (>1.5 years in culture) and wild samples to establish a high-quality draft nuclear genome for A. taxiformis (lineage 6 based upon phylogenetic analyses using the cox2-3 spacer). The constructed nuclear genome is 142 Mb in size (including 70.67% repeat regions) and was determined to encode for approximately 10,474 protein-coding genes, including those associated with secondary metabolism, photosynthesis, and defence. To obtain information regarding molecular differences between cultured and wild tetrasporophytes, we further explored differential gene expression relating to their different growth environments. Cultured tetrasporophytes, which contained a relatively higher level of bromoform compared to wild tetrasporophytes, demonstrated an enrichment of regulatory factors, such as protein kinases and transcription factors, whereas wild tetrasporophytes were enriched for the expression of defence and stress-related genes. Wild tetrasporophytes also expressed a relatively high level of novel secretory genes encoding proteins with von Willebrand factor A protein domains (named rhodophyte VWAs). Gene expression was further confirmed by proteomic investigation of cultured tetrasporophytes, resulting in the identification of over 400 proteins, including rhodophyte VWAs, and numerous enzymes and phycobiliproteins, which will facilitate future functional characterisation of this species. In summary, as the most comprehensive genomic resource for any Asparagopsis species, this resource for lineage 6 provides a novel avenue for seaweed researchers to interrogate genomic information, which will greatly assist in expediating production of Asparagopsis to meet demand by both aquaculture and agriculture, and to do so with economic and environmental sustainability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Research of the Seaweeds)
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