Juliet Brodie1, Steven G Ball2, François-Yves Bouget3, Cheong Xin Chan4, Olivier De Clerck5, J Mark Cock6, Claire Gachon7, Arthur R Grossman8, Thomas Mock9, John A Raven10, Mahasweta Saha11, Alison G Smith12, Assaf Vardi13, Hwan Su Yoon14, Debashish Bhattacharya15. 1. Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK. 2. UMR 8576 - UGSF - Unité de Glycobiologie Structurale et Fonctionnelle, Université de Lille CNRS, F 59000, Lille, France. 3. Laboratoire d'Océanographie Microbienne, Observatoire Océanologique, University Pierre et Marie Curie, University of Paris VI, CNRS, F-66650, Banyuls-sur-Mer, France. 4. Institute for Molecular Bioscience and School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld, 4072, Australia. 5. Phycology Research Group, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281, S8, 9000, Gent, Belgium. 6. CNRS, Sorbonne Université, UPMC University Paris 06, Algal Genetics Group, UMR 8227, Integrative Biology of Marine Models, Station Biologique de Roscoff, CS 90074, Roscoff, F-29688, France. 7. Bezhin Rosko, 29250, Santec, France. 8. Department of Plant Biology, The Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA. 9. School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK. 10. Division of Plant Sciences, University of Dundee at the James Hutton Institute, Dundee, DD2 5DA, UK. 11. Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research, Kiel, 24105, Germany. 12. Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EA, UK. 13. Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 76100, Israel. 14. Department of Biological Sciences, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 440-746, South Korea. 15. Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA.
Abstract
Contents 670 I. 671 II. 671 III. 676 IV. 678 678 References 678 SUMMARY: Biotic interactions underlie life's diversity and are the lynchpin to understanding its complexity and resilience within an ecological niche. Algal biologists have embraced this paradigm, and studies building on the explosive growth in omics and cell biology methods have facilitated the in-depth analysis of nonmodel organisms and communities from a variety of ecosystems. In turn, these advances have enabled a major revision of our understanding of the origin and evolution of photosynthesis in eukaryotes, bacterial-algal interactions, control of massive algal blooms in the ocean, and the maintenance and degradation of coral reefs. Here, we review some of the most exciting developments in the field of algal biotic interactions and identify challenges for scientists in the coming years. We foresee the development of an algal knowledgebase that integrates ecosystem-wide omics data and the development of molecular tools/resources to perform functional analyses of individuals in isolation and in populations. These assets will allow us to move beyond mechanistic studies of a single species towards understanding the interactions amongst algae and other organisms in both the laboratory and the field.
Contents 670 I. 671 II. 671 III. 676 IV. 678 678 References 678 SUMMARY: Biotic interactions underlie life's diversity and are the lynchpin to understanding its complexity and resilience within an ecological niche. Algal biologists have embraced this paradigm, and studies building on the explosive growth in omics and cell biology methods have facilitated the in-depth analysis of nonmodel organisms and communities from a variety of ecosystems. In turn, these advances have enabled a major revision of our understanding of the origin and evolution of photosynthesis in eukaryotes, bacterial-algal interactions, control of massive algal blooms in the ocean, and the maintenance and degradation of coral reefs. Here, we review some of the most exciting developments in the field of algal biotic interactions and identify challenges for scientists in the coming years. We foresee the development of an algal knowledgebase that integrates ecosystem-wide omics data and the development of molecular tools/resources to perform functional analyses of individuals in isolation and in populations. These assets will allow us to move beyond mechanistic studies of a single species towards understanding the interactions amongst algae and other organisms in both the laboratory and the field.