IFOP researcher Dr. Gonzalo Fuenzalida exhibits at XLIII Chilean MicrobiologyCongress
December 2nd, 2021
Between November 30th and December 2nd, the XLIII Chilean Microbiology Congress will be held. It is organized by Chilean Microbiology Society, which is done yearly and this time is online.
Dr. Gonzalo Fuenzalida participates in IFOP with phytoplankton communities Genetic diversity research contrasting environments along Chilean Coast.
Dr. Fuenzalida explained “During the last decades, mass sequencing technology has allowed scientists to advance in aquatic ecosystems biodiversity research. Specifically, metabarcoding technique allows prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms simultaneous identification in aquatic samples by sequencing common DNA regions to a wide variety of species. Therefore, the technique has a potential applicability in biological ecosystems routine monitoring .Useful in understanding Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) phenomena.
In this work, Chilean southern coast phytoplanktonic communities molecular diversity is explored using sequencing of V4 region of the 18S ribosomal gene in samples from 34 sites from two biogeographic areas with contrasting oceanographic characteristics: fjords / channels versus exposed Pacific Ocean ( 36 ° S to 53 ° S), areas that in recent years have experienced an increase in the frequency and intensity of Harmful Algal Blooms events with enormous ecological, social and economic consequences ”.
Gonzalo Fuenzalida Del Rio, is a Marine Biologist from Universidad Austral de Chile and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution from Pierre et Marie Curie University (currently Sorbonne University) in France.
From 2017 up to date he has been a Semi-Senior Researcher at Harmful Algae Studies Center (CREAN) which belongs to Fisheries Development Institute (IFOP) in Puerto Montt, where one of its main objectives is molecular tools implementation for harmful microalgae detection and quantification in two monitoring and detection programs for red tides on Pacific Ocean coast and fjords and channels area in southern Chile.