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Abstract:
The brown algae are considered to be the most devel- opmentally complex group of organisms after animals and land plants. These seaweeds include, for example, some of the largest organisms on the plant, the giant kelps, which can reach lengths of more than 50 metres. Brown algae are therefore clearly of interest for under- standing the mechanisms underlying developmental processes but, at present, very little is known about the molecular basis of development in these organisms. About ten years ago we proposed the filamentous brown alga Ectocarpus as a general model organism for the brown algae. Ectocarpus was selected specifi- cally because of the potential of this alga for the applica- tion of genetic and genomic approaches. A broad range of resources have now been developed for this organism, including a complete, well-annotated genome sequence, extensive mRNA and small RNA transcriptomic data, a genetic map and other genetic tools. These resources are currently employed to identify and characterise key regulatory loci associated with several developmental processes including, for example, the control of life cycle progression and sex-determination. Here we will review some of the genetic and genomic approaches that are used to identify these loci including classical posi- tional cloning approaches using the genetic map, NGS- based cloning methods such as the SHOREmap approach, genome resequencing and genome-wide com- parative methods.
