title: The emergence of molecular profiling and omics techniques in seagrass biology; furthering our understanding of seagrasses.
abstract: Seagrass meadows are disappearing at alarming rates as a result of increasing coastal development and climate change. The emergence of omics and molecular profiling techniques in seagrass research is timely, providing a new opportunity to address such global issues. Whilst these applications have transformed terrestrial plant research, they have only emerged in seagrass research within the past decade; In this time frame we have observed a significant increase in the number of publications in this nascent field, and as of this year the first genome of a seagrass species has been sequenced. In this review, we focus on the development of omics and molecular profiling and the utilization of molecular markers in the field of seagrass biology. We highlight the advances, merits and pitfalls associated with such technology, and importantly we identify and address the knowledge gaps, which to this day prevent us from understanding seagrasses in a holistic manner. By utilizing the powers of omics and molecular profiling technologies in integrated strategies, we will gain a better understanding of how these unique plants function at the molecular level and how they respond to on-going disturbance and climate change events.
authors.affiliation: Plant Functional Biology and Climate Change Cluster (C3), University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Davey
authors.affiliation: Plant Functional Biology and Climate Change Cluster (C3), University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Mathieu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pernice
authors.affiliation: Plant Functional Biology and Climate Change Cluster (C3), University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Gaurav
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sablok
authors.affiliation: Plant Functional Biology and Climate Change Cluster (C3), University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Larkum
authors.affiliation: School of Plant Biology, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
authors.forename: Huey Tyng
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: School of Plant Biology, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Golicz
authors.affiliation: School of Plant Biology, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.affiliation: CSIRO Agriculture, Black Mountain, Canberra, Australia.
authors.forename: Rudy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dolferus
authors.affiliation: Plant Functional Biology and Climate Change Cluster (C3), University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia. Peter.Ralph@uts.edu.au.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ralph
mesh_terms: D057231:Climate Change; D017753:Ecosystem; D018745:Genome, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D012624:Seaweed / Q000235:genetics*
keywords: Angiosperms; Marine plants; Molecular profiling; Next generation sequencing; Omics; Seagrass