Molecular actors in the brown algal oxylipin biosynthesis pathway
Affiliation
Laboratory for Integrative Biology of Marine Models (LBI2M), Station Biologique de Roscoff, CNRS, France
Abstract
Brown algae, key primary producers in coastal marine ecosystems, synthesize a variety of metabolites, such as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), their oxidized derivatives (oxylipins), and aldehydes under abiotic and biotic stress. While their biosynthetic pathways and ecological roles (e.g., defense, signaling) remain underexplored, recent evidence suggests that these metabolites may trigger defense reactions against grazers and mediate host-endophyte interactions. To study these pathways, treatments with various elicitors such as aldehydes, OPDA, oligoguluronates and copper have been shown to modulate transcriptomic and metabolomic responses, while CRISPR offers a promising tool to dissect gene-specific contributions. Brown algal pathways share similarities with plant or animal ones, like the involvement of LOX and CYP enzymes, which provide valuable insights for investigations. However, some molecular features are also specific to brown algae, with substantial variation across species and orders. I will illustrate this mainly with examples from Laminariales (kelps) and small filamentous Ectocarpales.