Marine kelp forests cover 1/3 of our world's coastlines, are heralded as a nature-based solution to address socio-environmental issues, connect hundreds of millions of people with the ocean, and support a rich web of biodiversity throughout our oceans. But they are increasingly threatened with some areas reporting over 90% declines in kelp forest cover in living memory. Despite their importance and the threats they face, kelp...

Main conclusion 22 nt siRNAs applied to leaves induce production of transitive sRNAs for targeted genes and can enhance local silencing. Systemic silencing was only observed for a GFP transgene. Abstract RNA interference (RNAi) is a gene silencing mechanism important in regulating gene expression during plant development, response to the environment and defense. Better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of this pathway...

The ocean provides food, economic activity, and cultural value for a large proportion of humanity. Our knowledge of marine ecosystems lags behind that of terrestrial ecosystems, limiting effective protection of marine resources. We describe the outcome of 2 workshops in 2011 and 2012 to establish a list of important questions, which, if answered, would substantially improve our ability to conserve and manage the world's marine...