[Picture]
Himanthalia elongata in the coast of Roscoff, France (2022, photo by Min Zheng).
Brown algae (Phaeophyceae) are a eukaryotic lineage that has been evolving independently from animals and plants for more than a billion years. Brown algae constitute the third most complex eukaryotic multicellular lineage, displaying a wide variety of complex morphologies in both the haploid and diploid phases of their life cycle, thus representing a unique model to study the universality or uniqueness of biological processes throughout the tree of life.
Not only did brown algae evolved complex multicellularity, they also evolved a sex-determination system based on UV chromosomes. Besides determining sex, the UV chromosomes in brown algae display interesting evolutionary dynamics that distinguish them from the autosomes.
Not only did brown algae evolved complex multicellularity, they also evolved a sex-determination system based on UV chromosomes. Besides determining sex, the UV chromosomes in brown algae display interesting evolutionary dynamics that distinguish them from the autosomes.
Current projects:
- Origin and evolutionary dynamics of the U/V sex chromosomes in the brown algae (collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen).
- Evolution and function of genes associated with the emergence of multicellularity of brown algae (collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen).
- Detection of de novo gene birth events in the model brown alga Ectocarpus through comparative genomics, population genomics and ribosome profiling (collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen).