Jose Francisco Diesel Gary Molano Sergey Nuzhdin ^*

• University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States

Giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) is a paramount species with immense ecological and economic importance. It forms dense underwater forests, providing crucial habitat and serving as a foundation species for diverse marine ecosystems. Giant kelp contributes to coastal ecosystem health, carbon sequestration, and is farmed for feedstock, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. Understanding giant kelp's genetics is essential for conservation and sustainable farming, safeguarding these valuable ecosystems and their benefits. By analyzing mutations based on their impact, we can facilitate insights into the potential functional consequences and implications for an organism, helping to identify critical genes or regions that may play a significant role in adaptation, development, and environmental response. For that, we annotated the effects and impact of spontaneous mutations in 559 giant kelp individuals from four different populations -mutations were classified into modifier, low, moderate, and high impact depending on their predicted effect. The creation of this mutation effect database attached to the seedbank of these individuals can have several applications, including enhancing breeding programs, aiding genetic engineering using naturally occurring mutations, and developing strategies to mitigate the impact of environmental changes.