Ectocarpus Siliculosus

Ectocarpus siliculosus is a filamentous brown alga belonging to the stramenopiles, a group that diverged from the animal, fungus, and land plant lineages over a billion years ago. It forms unbranched filaments that can grow up to about 60 centimeters long, usually appearing as soft tufts only a few centimeters tall on larger plants or other substrates, though it can occasionally reach 20 centimeters. It grows in marine coastal waters, attaching to firm surfaces and other aquatic plants. Ectocarpus siliculosus was the first brown macroalgal genome to be sequenced, beginning in 2004 at the Station Biologique in Roscoff, and it now serves as a genetic model organism for studying brown macroalgae development and the evolution of complex multicellularity, a trait found in relatively few groups of eukaryotes. It shows unusual metabolic features including iron binding on its cell surfaces and the ability to accumulate high concentrations of iodide, along with low sexual dimorphism, with its female and male genes evolving at similar rates.