Culture methods and mutant generation in the filamentous brown algae Ectocarpus siliculosus

Ectocarpus siliculosus is a small filamentous alga that has recently emerged as the new model for fundamental research on brown algae. Here, we describe the basic culture protocols for propagating and collecting E. siliculosus material that can then be used in all types of molecular biology, biochemistry and cell biology techniques. In addition, procedures for carrying out genetic experiments (generation of mutants and genetic segregation analyses) on E. siliculosus are described.