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Abstract

The burgeoning seaweed industry is facing a number of economic and environmental challenges. Several academic laboratories are working to provide R&D support to the industry, both through applied and through more fundamental research approaches. Fundamental approaches have so far focused on the model brown alga Ectocarpus but exploitation of this system is currently hampered by the absence of key molecular tools. In particular, despite more than two decades of investment aimed at developing genetic transformation for this species, the inability to disrupt, modify, or insert genes into the genomes of marine brown algae considerably hinders research in brown algal genetics and biotechnology. Recently, CRISPR-Cas9 technology has been successfully implemented for other stramenopiles. Building on these advances, alternative genome editing strategies for the model brown alga Ectocarpus based on the direct delivery of ribonucleoprotein (RNP) particles are currently being developed. This presentation will describe the diversity of genetic screens and RNP delivery strategies that are now available to pilot RNP mediated gene knock- outs in Ectocarpus.