Dassanayake Lab
COMPARATIVE
FUNCTIONAL
& EVOLUTIONARY
GENOMICS
Explore Shared Evolutionary Paths in Stress Adaptation
Rhizophora propagules
Avicennia dominant mangrove community, Twin Cays, Belize
Salt-adapted extremophytes (halophytes) represent a varied taxonomic group which are also ecologically and structurally variations. Traits associated with salt tolerance convergently evolved among flowering plant lineages. We investigate shared evolutionary mechanisms and genetic networks preferentially employed by halophytes such as mangroves, salt marsh plants, seagrasses, plants from salt flats, and other coastal plants.
(right) Spergularia rupicola,
Ireland
(left) Plantago maritima
Rhizophora dominant mango community, Maadu River, Sri Lanka
(left) Plantago coronopus, Ireland
(right) Armeria maritima, Ireland
Seagrass genomics
The genomic insights of salt tolerance of tropical invasive seagrass, Halophila stipulacea, compared to its freshwater relative, Vallisneria americana
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 H. 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.
We aim to identify genetic regulators underlying the resilient growth of seagrasses found across different salinity ranges.
Our goal is to use this knowledge to introduce transformative genetic changes in rice to develop cultivars that are highly stress resilient.