Seaweed's spread around the world reflected in its genomes

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-01-26 03:00

New Zealand; International

Shane Stagner on Unsplash

The intentional and unintentional spread of the seaweed Undaria pinnatifida to other parts of the world has left genetic traces on its genomes, an international study involving New Zealand researchers has found. While native to Northeast Asia, the kelp established itself in New Zealand waters over the last 30 years and is sometimes referred to here as the "gorse of the sea". Researchers compared the genomes from natural, cultivated, and introduced kelp populations. Kelp introduced to Wellington's Lyall Bay showed similar levels of genetic diversity as native Korean populations, which the research team says reflects multiple introductions into New Zealand waters.

Media release

From:

Attachments

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public. Research URLs will go live after the embargo ends.

Research Springer Nature, Web page

Journal/
conference: Nature Ecology & Evolution

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), University of Auckland, Sungkyunkwan University, Korea

Funder: This study was supported by the Collaborative Genome Program of the Korea Institute of Marine Science and Technology Promotion funded by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (20180430), the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2017R1A2B3001923, 2020R1C1C1008173) and the Next-generation BioGreen21 Program (PJ01389003) from the Rural Development Administration, Korea. Sampling in the Wando farms was supported by the National Institute of Fisheries Sciences (R2020004, to I.K.H.). Sampling in New Zealand was supported by NIWA SSIF funds to W.N.

Media Contact/s

Contact details are only visible to registered journalists.