SMAST Seminar " Marine symbioses powered by wood: a genomic exploration." by: Daniel Distel

Wednesday, April 08, 2026 at 12:30pm to 1:30pm

Seminar Announcement

Department of Estuarine and Ocean Sciences
" Marine symbioses powered by wood: a genomic exploration."
Daniel Distel
Director of Ocean Genome Legacy Center, Northeastern University Marine Science Center

Wednesday, April 8, 2026
12:30 - 1:30 pm
SMAST E 101-103 and via Zoom

Abstract:

Shipworms are the most important consumers of wood in marine environments, causing billions of dollars in damage each year to wooden vessels, piers, and fishing equipment, but also playing beneficial roles in marine carbon and nitrogen cycles. They digest wood and fix nitrogen with the help of enzymes made by symbiotic bacteria that live, not in their digestive system, but inside specialized cells in their gills. Symbiont-made enzymes are then transported to the digestive system via an incompletely understood mechanism that is as biologically strange and surprising as it is ecologically and economically influential. I will describe how researchers at the Ocean Genome Legacy Center are using genomics and metagenomics, as well as traditional fieldwork, tank experiments, and microbiology, to unravel the mysteries of these unique, important, and often overlooked marine species.

Join Meeting

https://umassd.zoom.us/j/97440069270

Note: Meeting ID and passcode required, please email contact to obtain.

For additional information, please contact Callie Rumbut at c.rumbut@umassd.edu

SMAST East 101-103 : 836 S. Rodney French Boulevard, New Bedford MA 02744
Callie Rumbut
c.rumbut@umassd.edu
https://umassd.zoom.us/j/97440069270