[All-postdocs] Bioseminar - Brittany Sprecher

[Ana Velez]

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Biology Department Seminar

Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 12:00 pm
Redfield Auditorium

Brittany Sprecher
Postdoctoral Investigator, WHOI

Dinoflagellates: from Bioluminescence to Plastid Acquisitions
Dinoflagellates are unicellular protists with global distributions. They are a major class of phytoplankton and can be photoautotrophic, heterotrophic, or mixotrophic, with each mode contributing significantly to ecosystem dynamics. They display diverse biological innovations across different lineages, including complex plastid acquisitions and metabolic traits such as bioluminescence and toxin production.  Yet, despite their ecological significance, the molecular mechanisms underlying many of their characteristic traits remain poorly understood. In this seminar, I will first present work characterizing the bioluminescent system in the heterotrophic dinoflagellate Polykrikos kofoidii. By analyzing flash characteristics, luciferin localization, and luminescence-related genes, we uncover unique features not present in previously characterized luminescent dinoflagellates. Second, I will discuss plastid acquisition in dinotoms, dinoflagellates with endosymbiotic diatoms. By developing genetic transformation methods for the diatom prey and performing comparative transcriptomic analyses, we investigate prey preference in the kleptoplastic dinotom and how transcriptomic signatures differ between kleptoplastic species and those with stable diatoms. Together, these studies provide new tools and molecular insights into how dinoflagellates evolve and regulate complex metabolic traits.

Biology Seminar Web Page<https://www.whoi.edu/what-we-do/understand/departments-centers-labs/bio/bio-highlights-events/>

For questions, contact:

Ana Maria Velez
Biology Pre-Award Administrative Associate
Ph: 508-289-2334
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