The mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes of the kelp, Ecklonia radiata

Ecklonia radiata is a dominant kelp across much of the southern hemisphere supporting vast economic, social and ecological values. It is also of emerging interest for aquaculture industries and in blue carbon sequestration. Despite its importance, genomic resources of this key species are scant, yet could provide important knowledge to better manage, cultivate and conserve this species in our changing oceans. In this study we report the complete mitochondrial and draft chloroplast genome for E. radiata. The mitochondrial genome is 37,696 bp in length and contains 66 annotated genes. Two alternative scaffold arrangements were recovered for the chloroplast genome, both of 130,955 bp and differing only in the orientation of a single ~ 43 kbp contig. Annotation of the plastid scaffolds identified 175 genes and two large inverted repeats that are typical of brown algal chloroplast genomes. Comparisons to other kelp genomes indicate that the gene sets reported here are likely complete. The recovery of two chloroplast scaffold assembly arrangements hints at the possibility of heteroplasmy in E. radiata though this requires further investigation. The genomic information reported here will aid in understanding functional response of E. radiata in changing oceans, enhance the development of E. radiata as an aquaculture resource and support efforts to conserve this ecologically important marine species.