A research team led by Professor Hwan Su Yoon from the Department of Biological Sciences at Sungkyunkwan University has published their findings on the brown algae genome in the journal Cell. This study sheds light on the adaptive and evolutionary mechanisms of brown algae in response to past climate change.

The international research consortium, titled “Phaeoexplorer,” consists of over 36 research institutions across 13 countries. Professor Yoon’s research team is the sole contributor from Korea. Key analyses for the project were performed by Ph.D. candidate Seok-Wan Choi, Dr. Jihoon Jo (now in National Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korea), and Dr. Louis Graf (now in Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris, France).

Brown algae, which includes commercially important species such as kelps (Miyeok and Dasima), is recognized for its economic value as a food source and for its role as "blue carbon" in reducing carbon dioxide. Despite its ecological and commercial importance, genome research on brown algae has been scarce. This study delves into the evolutionary history of 44 brown algae and related species, revealing how they have adapted to oceanic environments over time.

Professor Yoon’s research team found that approximately 450 million years ago, during the Ordovician period, brown algae took a critical evolutionary leap, shifting from unicellular to multicellular organisms. During this time, brown algae have acquired cell wall components such as alginate through horizontal gene transfer (HGT) from bacteria, which enabled cellular signaling among cells and protection against marine invertebrate predators. Around 200 million years ago, during the Triassic period, the breakup of Pangaea led to extensive species diversification, resulting in a variety of life cycles and metabolic processes in brown algae.

Professor Yoon stated, “Because climate change rapidly alters marine ecosystems, which is quite unprecedented, studying how brown algae have adapted in past environmental changes is essential for understanding future changes in marine environments and how marine life may respond.”

This research was supported by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the National Research Foundation of Korea. This research will be published in Cell on November 27.

※ Paper: Evolutionary genomics of the emergence of brown algae as key components of coastal ecosystems

※ Journal: Cell

                            Analysis Results of Brown Algae Species Divergence Time