MISSION BAY – For solutions to seemingly intractable problems, look to the mutants.
Scientists Malia Moore, PhD and Todd Michael, PhD, in cooperation with the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and UC San Diego, are working to resolve a serious issue: Finding ways to restore the health of Mission Bay’s seagrass ecosystem.
Moore and Michael have been researching a recently-discovered hybrid “mutant” seagrass, one that demonstrates low-light tolerance, while snorkeling in the bay. It is a discovery that could perhaps set the scene for future adoption of a new approach to coastal restoration.
Seagrass and kelp are crucial components of healthy and productive coastal ecosystems. They nurture commercially and recreationally important fish and shellfish, while absorbing climate-warming greenhouse gases. The plants also improve water quality and help protect coastlines from increasingly frequent and severe storms.
But, like other submerged aquatic vegetation, seagrass and kelp are both threatened by pollution, dredging, shoreline development, warming waters, and rising seas.
“We were searching for the genetic underpinnings of how seagrasses cope with low-light conditions,” said first author Moore, a National Science Foundation graduate research fellowship recipient, an oceanographer and researcher at the Salk Institute and a former graduate student researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
“If there are some genetic individuals that are more resilient, and that’s encoded in their genomes, could we find that? And could we then use those insights to inform restoration efforts that tackle this intolerance to low light?”
The pair’s research indicates that, when seagrasses Zostera pacifica and Zostera marina became seafloor neighbors, they hybridized to create a daughter eelgrass.
Luckily for the Salk and UC San Diego team, a robust bed of this hybrid grows locally in Mission Bay.
Hybrids like these two seagrass varieties tend to outperform their parents in extreme environments, such as in low-light conditions. Such research could ultimately lead to practical future applications for creating a healthier eelgrass ecosystem in Mission Bay, as hybrids can also serve as critical intermediates that bridge gaps between species, just like the shallow-water Zostera marina and deeper-water Zostera pacifica.
“If this hybrid inherits Zostera pacifica’s low-light toolkit, it could become a new avenue for restoration, guiding where and how we plant new seagrasses, and which genes or lineages are most likely to survive in murky waters,” said senior author Todd Michael, Ph.D., a research professor at Salk.
Both researchers sequenced the hybrid seagrass’ genome, comparing it with the Zostera marina variety to test whether that variety had inherited the hybrid Zostera pacifica’s low-light tolerance. The genome helped the researchers confirm that the hybrid was a first-generation cross between Zostera marina and Zostera pacifica.
After confirming the cross, the research team grew the hybrid and Zostera marina side-by-side in low-light tanks and compared them to pinpoint differences in their light response. This tank setup was dubbed “extreme gardening” by them, as growing these finicky sea plants is a true feat, as seagrasses support each other through complex underground networks of stems and are very particular about their soil.
The results are promising. “Further field tests will be needed, but the genetics suggest a promising path to more resilient seagrass meadows,” Michael said.
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