Seagrass genomics

Seagrasses are a unique group of small marine flowering plants that re-entered the oceans and secondarily colonized marine habitats. In returning to the sea, some 60–90 million years ago, seagrasses were faced with the physiological challenges related to growing in marine conditions. Halophila stipulacea was originally described from the Red Sea and was first reported in the Mediterranean Sea in 1894, only 25 years after the opening of the Suez Canal. Since then, it has become established along the coastlines of Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, Albania, Greece, Italy, Libya, Cyprus and Tunisia. In 2002, this seagrass was reported in the Caribbean Sea, and has now spread to most eastern Caribbean Island nations and recently to the South American continent. It has been suggested that the invasiveness of Halophila stipulacea could be attributed to its ability to acclimate to a wide range of physiological conditions including water temperatures, light intensities, nutrient levels, and salinities. Genome sequence and transcriptomic response of this species to high salt is lacking. So, in this project we are aiming to sequence, assemble, annotate the chromosome scale genome of Halophila stipulacea and its closely related freshwater species, Vallisneria americana.