This predoctoral fellowship project addresses the plant health and production and plant products (phppp) afri priority area

The Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded the University of California San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography $180,000 on May 15, 2026, under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Foundational and Applied Science Program to fund predoctoral fellowship research on seaweed mariculture and bacterial pathology.

The research examines how marine bacterial pathogens detoxify phlorotannins, secondary metabolites produced by brown seaweed as a defense mechanism against epiphytic microbiomes. The project will search publicly available genome datasets of marine microbes and seaweed pathogens for phlorotannase homologs to map the distribution and evolutionary history of genes associated with pathogenic detoxification. Findings will inform macroalgal disease management strategies applicable across brown algae species, addressing tens of millions of dollars in annual economic losses from bacterial disease in fast-growing brown seaweed aquaculture sectors.

Performance of the work will occur at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, from May 15, 2026, through May 14, 2029. The award addresses the AFRI Plant Health and Production and Plant Products priority area and supports development of a predoctoral researcher as a future leader in seaweed mariculture and pathology research.

IT will support the PD towards becoming a future leader in the research of seaweed mariculture and pathology.brown seaweed is among the fastest growing aquaculture sectors, but disease from bacterial pathogens causes tens of millions of dollars of annual economic loss. One algae-specific component of epiphytic microbiome control is the production and release of phloroglucinolbased tannins, called phlorotannins. Although terrestrial tannins are known tools for plant defense and tannases are established phytopathogen marker genes, no current research describes how microbes detoxify phlorotannin. Publicly available genomes datasets of marine microbes and seaweed pathogens will be searched for phlorotannase homologs to determine the distribution and evolutionary history of these important pathogenic genes. Discerning the effects of phlorotannin and phlorotannases on algaemicrobiome relationships will be a critical step in growing the field of macroalgal pathology. The proposed research project is aimed at elucidating widely applicable metabolic interactions for algal defense. The majority of research findings will be applicable to all species of brown algae.