Porphyra: a marine crop shaped by stress

The marine red alga Porphyra is an important marine crop, worth ∼US$1.3 billion per year. Cultivation research now includes farm ecology, breeding, strain conservation and new net-seeding technologies. The success of cultivation is due, in part, to the high stress tolerance of Porphyra. Many species of Porphyra lose 85–95% of their cellular water during the daytime low tide, when they are also exposed to high light and temperature stress. Antioxidant and mycosporine-like amino acid activities have been partially characterized in Porphyra, but, as we discuss here, the Porphyra umbilicalis genome project will further elucidate proteins associated with stress tolerance. Furthermore, phylogenomic and transcriptomic investigations of Porphyra sensu lato could elucidate tradeoffs made during physiological acclimation and factors associated with life-history evolution in this ancient lineage.