![]() ![]() As sea grape cultivation takes root beyond Okinawa and across the Pacific, this genomic data could help farmers establish more effective growing strategies. They may hold similar importance in the early life stages of umi-budo. For instance, evidence suggests that specific homeobox genes are highly expressed in the pollens and eggs of land plants. In the future, the Marine Genomics Unit hopes to analyze gene expression as it occurs throughout the sea grape life cycle. Helping Sea Grape Farmers in Okinawa and Beyond Homeobox proteins flip switches on critical genes to turn them "on" or "off," said Arimoto, which triggers cellular processes and shapes an organism's anatomical structure down the line. Without nuclear transport regulators, sea grapes couldn't grow in their signature clusters.Ĭompared to other green algae, sea grapes also have extra genes to code for homeobox proteins, which help to regulate the physical development of plants. The mechanism allows single cells to take on complex shapes despite lacking cell membranes to separate one region from the next. ![]() In umi-budo, a unicellular organism, the proteins do the same for individual nuclei in the cell. In multicellular organisms, transport regulators tune whole cells to only receive certain signals, like a dial on a radio. Among these genes are those that code for nuclear transport regulators - proteins that help control how information moves between the nuclei and the cytosol, the liquid in which a cell's organelles float. The results suggest that the sea grapes contain an expanded set of genes thought to be descended from a core gene set found in a common ancestor of green plants. "It was completely unknown how many genes are present in green seaweed, and which plant hormones are present to drive development." The researchers succeeded in deciphering a high-quality genome from an umi-budo plant and compared it to known plant genomes to see whether certain genes appeared in different quantities between them. "When we started the project, there were no green seaweed genomes," said Arimoto. The Marine Genomics Unit was curious as to how a plant made up of just one cell could grow into such a fantastical shape, thus granting sea grapes their singular texture. In Japanese, this sensational texture is known as "puchi puchi," an onomatopoeia mimicking the sound of puny pops. Tiny green balls branch off the central stem of the umi-budo plant, and when chewed, these teeny orbs burst in a pop of salty goodness. "I think this genomic information could help their future development, as well as Okinawa prefecture."Ĭollection of Genes Creates "Puchi Puchi" "Recently, other countries have started cultivating this and related species of green seaweed," said Arimoto. The research revealed key genes that allow sea grapes, a unicellular organism, to don its complex shape, and demonstrated the utility of using the algae to explore evolutionary processes in green plants. The scientists deciphered the full sea grape genome and compared it to 15 published plant genomes, collected from unicellular algae, a type of moss, rice and thale cress. ![]() The study, published Februin DNA Research, utilized sample sea grapes from the Onna Village Fishery Cooperative, whose greenhouses are located just around the corner from OIST campus. The research could also help curb the spread of closely-related green seaweeds, which harm the environment by pushing out local plant varieties in the Mediterranean Sea and Pan-Pacific. "Our genomic data can show them which genes are causing such trouble." With a catalog of all the genes controlling sea grape growth, said Arimoto, the researchers may be able to help farmers diagnose deficient plants when they crop up. Asuka Arimoto, first author of the study and a postdoctoral scholar in the OIST Marine Genomics Unit, led by Prof. Today, they don't know why such problems occur," said Dr. ![]() "Many farmers face problems with sea grapes growing poorly. ![]()
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