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SUMMARY:Adding Biology to Barcodes: Tackling the Hidden Diversity of the M
 arine Alveolates - Dr Corey Holt\, University of Bath
DTSTART:20250430T150000Z
DTEND:20250430T160000Z
UID:TALK227881@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Ross Waller
DESCRIPTION:Metabarcoding datasets targeting protists in marine environmen
 ts are often dominated by a group of dinoflagellates referred to as the Ma
 rine Alveolates (MALVs). Despite a global distribution\, considerable sequ
 ence diversity\, and significant prevalence and abundance in various hosts
  and environments\, MALVs include just a handful of characterised lineages
 . They largely represent a vast collection of uncharacterised 18S barcodes
 . Known lineages\, however\, are important parasites that can impact fish 
 and crustacean farming or even harmful algal bloom proliferation. Dinoflag
 ellate genomes are notoriously large and complex. With only two comprehens
 ive MALV genomes available\, inferring robust evolutionary histories based
  solely on 18S phylogenies remains challenging. To overcome this issue\, w
 e are manually isolating and sequencing individual MALV cells to generate 
 transcriptomes for phylogenomics\, increasing the number of characterised 
 MALV lineages and improving our understanding of dinoflagellate evolution 
 in the process. Using this approach\, we demonstrated that MALVs originate
 d from two distinct\, free-living ancestors\, indicating multiple transiti
 ons to parasitism and challenging prevailing assumptions about MALVs as a 
 whole. More recently\, we have isolated several new genera\, one of which 
 appears to represent an entirely new MALV group. Going forward\, we aim to
  use metabarcoding datasets to guide the targeted isolation of uncharacter
 ised MALV lineages\, filling in critical gaps in our understanding of thes
 e important regulators of both animal and environmental health.
LOCATION:Seminar Room\, Tennis Court Road\, Dept of Pathology.
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