Diesel Jose Francisco, Molano Gary, Nuzhdin Sergey V
Department of Molecular and Computational Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
Front Plant Sci. 2025 Jan 27;15:1338572. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1338572. eCollection 2024.
Giant kelp () is a paramount species of immense ecological and economic importance. It forms dense underwater forests, providing crucial habitat and serving as a foundation species for diverse marine ecosystems. Understanding the genetics of giant kelp is essential for conservation and sustainable farming, safeguarding these valuable ecosystems and their benefits. By analyzing mutations based on their impact, we can gain insights into the potential functional consequences and implications for the organism, helping to identify critical genes or regions that may play a significant role in adaptation, development, and environmental response. To achieve this, we annotated the effects and impact of spontaneous mutations in 559 giant kelp individuals from four different populations. We found over 15.9 million mutations in genes of giant kelp, and classified them into modifier, low, moderate, and high impact depending on their predicted effects. The creation of this mutation effect database, attached to the seedbank of these individuals, offers several applications, including enhancing breeding programs, aiding genetic engineering with naturally occurring mutations, and developing strategies to mitigate the impact of environmental changes.
巨藻（）是一种具有极其重要生态和经济意义的关键物种。它形成密集的水下森林，提供关键栖息地，并作为多种海洋生态系统的基础物种。了解巨藻的遗传学对于保护和可持续养殖至关重要，有助于保护这些宝贵的生态系统及其带来的益处。通过根据突变的影响进行分析，我们可以深入了解其对生物体的潜在功能后果和影响，有助于识别可能在适应、发育和环境响应中发挥重要作用的关键基因或区域。为了实现这一目标，我们对来自四个不同种群的559个巨藻个体的自发突变的影响进行了注释。我们在巨藻基因中发现了超过1590万个突变，并根据其预测影响将它们分为修饰型、低影响、中等影响和高影响。这个与这些个体的种子库相关联的突变效应数据库有多种应用，包括加强育种计划、利用自然发生的突变辅助基因工程以及制定减轻环境变化影响的策略。
