Concept and Objectives

Macroalgal pathogens cause regular disease outbreaks and endanger the sustainable development of macroalgal marine culture and natural algae populations in ecosystems. The lack of proper disease management measures alongside a limited knowledge of macroalgal biology points to an urgent need to study algal pathologies. Recent studies have provided some genomic and proteomic information in brown macroalgae but nothing is known about the nature of metabolites, involved in macroalgal host-pathogen interactions. The EU-funded HALOSPATH project aims to elucidate the dynamic changes in the metabolic profiles in defense mechanisms of two brown macroalgae Ectocarpus and Laminaria against pathologies, focussing on identifying the roles of any halometabolites involved in the process, using an integrated approach of metabolomics and RNA-seq transcriptomics.