Investigation of the Vitoria-Trindade chain as a barrier to gene flow in Colpomenia sinuosa (Ectocarpales, Phaeophyceae)

• Grant number: 23/12803-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Support Program for Fixating Young Doctors
• Start date: October 01, 2023
• End date: September 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Plant Genetics
• Agreement: CNPq
• Principal Investigator: Sónia Cristina da Silva Andrade
• Grantee: Celine Lopes da Silva Santos
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 23/01413-9 - Investigation of the Vitória Trindade chain as a barrier to gene flow in Colpomenia sinuosa Ectocarpales, Phaeophyceae), AP.R

Abstract

Since the 1800s, human activities have been considered the main drivers and mitigating factors of climate changes. Estimates indicate that in the next twenty years, the global temperature will reach or exceed 1.5º C. Considering the significant increase of Earth and Ocean temperature, as well as the greenhouse gas emission, some questions become relevant: a) how and to what degree do these events affect the marine ecosystem? b) how different marine species behave with temperature increase? c) Do marine organisms' responses to climate warming have genetic signals? Several studies evidence that climate warming provokes harmful biological changes, as well as change in the ecological and functional structures of the marine ecosystem. Besides that, variations of temperature have caused impacts of distributions and survival in marine species, including primary producers organisms, such as algae. At genetic level, increase of temperature influences the gene expression in algae, mainly genes related to the metabolic activities. However, responses of cosmopolitan algae, which throughout evolutionary history developed adaptive traits that made them able to undergo a wide range of environmental conditions, are poorly understood. The macroalgae of the species Colpomenia sinuosa have a wide distribution and can occur in both intertidal and subtidal environments. In Brazil, this species is distributed from South to the Northeast coast. The high dispersal capacity and evolution of structures and lifestyle are relevant characteristic that become this species promising to evolutionary and adaptive studies, mainly from the point of view of functional genomics.This study aims to complement the demographic analysis of the C. sinuosa, establishing a relation between increase of temperature and responses at transcriptional level and of distribution of this algae species. Firstly, we will analyze the response, to the genetic level, of C. sinuosa to different temperature treatment through RNA-Seq analysis. Additionally, we will estimate the impacts of the climate warming effects in the distribution of this species using niche modeling.