The genome and transcriptome sequences of Nereocystis luetkeana NB12FB3 were not determined by the Joint Genome Institute (JGI). The genome was sequenced with PacBio and assembled as part of the California Conservation Genomics Project (CCGP). RNAseq from the Alberto Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was assembled with Trinity at the JGI. Subsequently, the JGI Annotation Pipeline was used to generate structural and functional annotations.
The bull kelp, Nereocystis luetkeana (Phaeophyceae: Laminariales), is a canopy-forming large brown macroalgae found in the Northeast Pacific Ocean, from Point Conception in California, USA, to Umnak Island, Alaska, USA. Bull kelp has a heteromorphic haplodiplontic life cycle, with a dominant diploid sporophyte and microscopic unisexual haploid gametophytes that produce anisogamic gametes. Bull kelp is an annual species with fast growth, increasing its size ten-fold in less than two months. During winter, bull kelp beds are significantly reduced and replaced by young sporophytes. The blades of bull kelp are held near the surface of the water by a gas-filled, spherical pneumatocyst at the end of a long, slim stipe (~1/3 inch in diameter), attached to the substratum with a hapterous holdfast.
N. luetkeana differs from other kelps in that spore-filled tissues, called sori, abscise completely from the sporophyte's blades and fall to the benthos, releasing haploid zoospores. Sori are produced near the proximal end of the blade, and their abscission occurs between June and November. Due to its fast growth rate, bull kelp forests have high productivity and play a key role in nutrient cycling in coastal marine ecosystems. Recent population declines in Northern California, CA, USA, and Salish Sea, WA, USA, have caused concerns. This species is also noteworthy for its importance for indigenous communities in Western North America as a source of food, tools, instruments, and other symbolic and spiritual elements.
