Algae genome sequencing study cited in Daily Reflector article
The Daily Reflector of Greenville, North Carolina mentioned a University of Maine-led research project in a feature article on an East Carolina University biologist. John Stiller, an associate professor of plant genomics, served as a primary researcher on a 50-member team led by UMaine, the Carnegie Institution for Science and ECU that sequenced and analyzed the genome of Porphyra umbilicalis, according to the article. The red alga lives in the rocky intertidal zone and is thought to represent one of the oldest forms of marine life — and a major international food source, the article states. “Porphyra is one of the few algae, or organisms of any kind for that matter, that can thrive in these kinds of conditions,” Stiller said. “Moreover, it has managed to persist in this environment through every mass extinction in the earth’s history.” Susan Brawley, a professor of marine sciences at UMaine, was lead author of the group’s report, “Insights into the red algae and eukaryotic evolution from the genome of Porphyra umbilicalis,” which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.