Biology subjects

Rad-Menendez, C.

Publications and source records attributed to Rad-Menendez, C..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Comparison of the performance of sporophytes derived from narrow and wide genetic crosses between strains of the cultivated kelp Saccharina latissima

Seaweed mariculture allows sustainable production of large quantities of biomass for multiple downstream applications but the genotypes cultivated by this industry need to be improved to increase efficiency and cost-effectiveness. It is important that the genetic improvement of cultivated strains does not lead to the introduction of foreign genetic material into wild seaweed populations, which are already under threat from global heating. To circumvent this problem, efforts are being made to develop breeding approaches based on the use of locally-resourced genetic material. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential effectiveness of this 'local' breeding strategy compared to a classical breeding approach based on wide genetic crosses. Analyses of growth rates and cell wall composition of F1 hybrids derived from either intra- or inter-population crosses between Saccharina latissima strains from two localities, southern Brittany, France and the Faroe Islands, did not identify any clear advantage of inter- compared to intra-population crosses. Breeding based on locally-resourced strains would therefore appear to be a valid approach for current strain selection programs. The study also established a large collection of gametophyte strains from multiple sites for future breeding programs and showed that these strains retained the capacity to become fertile after more than ten years in culture.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2025

Earth-Observation and Environmental Vision Transformers Reveal Genome-Environment Associations in Macroalgae

Macroalgae thrive in extreme environments, yet the genomic basis of their tolerance remains poorly resolved. We describe nine Arabian Gulf macroalgae and integrate them with 117 published genomes (126 total; 70 Rhodophyta, 43 Ochrophyta, 13 Chlorophyta) to test genome-environment associations. Google Earth Engine (GEE) for broad-scale oceanography and 10-meter resolution AlphaEarth Foundations (AEF) embeddings for fine-scale habitat heterogeneity. We identified 157 significant (FDR q < 0.05) correlations with global GEE variables--including a strong negative temperature association with DUF3570--while AEF embeddings uncovered over 1,000 lineage-specific signals within Rhodophyta and identified climate-driven Pfam modules. The von Willebrand factor type-A domain emerged as uniquely robust across all frameworks and enriched in Arabian Gulf species. In the Arabian Gulf, enrichment of this domain is consistent with selection for adhesion mechanisms capable of withstanding chronic hydrodynamic stress compounded by high temperature and salinity. These results demonstrate that converging remote sensing with deep learning identifies conserved and lineage-specific genomic signatures of ecological differentiation across diverse macroalgal lineages.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2024

The ancient evolution of far-red light photoacclimation in cyanobacteria

Cyanobacteria oxygenated the atmosphere of early Earth and continue to be key players in global carbon and nitrogen cycles. A phylogenetically diverse subset of extant cyanobacteria can perform photosynthesis with far-red light through a process called far-red light photoacclimation, or FaRLiP. This phenotype is enabled by a cluster of [~]20 genes, and involves the synthesis of red-shifted chlorophylls f and d, together with paralogues of the ubiquitous photosynthetic machinery used in visible light. The FaRLiP gene cluster is present in diverse, environmentally important cyanobacterial groups but its origin, evolutionary history, and connection to early biotic environments have remained unclear. This study takes advantage of the recent increase in (meta)genomic data to clarify this issue; sequence data mining, metagenomic assembly, and phylogenetic tree networks were used to recover more than 600 new FaRLiP gene sequences, corresponding to 52 new gene clusters. These data enable high-resolution phylogenetics and - by relying on multiple gene trees, together with gene arrangement conservation - support FaRLiP appearing early in cyanobacterial evolution. Sampling information shows that considerable FaRLiP diversity can be observed in microbialites to the present day, and the process may have been associated with microbial mats and stromatolite formation in the early Paleoproterozoic. The ancestral FaRLiP cluster was reconstructed, revealing a conserved intergenic regulatory sequence that has been maintained for billions of years. Taken together, our results indicate that oxygenic photosynthesis using far-red light may have played a significant role in Earths early history.

evolutionary biology↗