Science Highlights
Lean and Mean Biomass-Degrading Fungus Reveals Targeted Capabilities for Improved Biofuel Production
The genome analysis of a champion biomass-degrading fungus has revealed a surprisingly minimal repertoire of genes that it employs to break down plant cell walls, highlighting opportunities for further improvements in enzymes customized for biofuels production.
Mechanisms of Plant-Fungi Symbiosis Characterized by DOE Joint Genome Institute, Collaborators
Plants gained their ancestral toehold on dry land with considerable help from their fungal friends. Now, millennia later, that partnership is being exploited as a strategy to bolster biomass production for next-generation biofuels.
DOE JGI Releases Soybean Genome Assembly
A preliminary assembly and annotation of the soybean genome, Glycine max, has been made available by the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI), to the greater scientific community to enable bioenergy research.
DOE JGI Community Sequencing Program Delivers First Moss Genome
Messages from nearly a half-billion years ago, conveyed via the inventory of genes sequenced from a present-day moss, provide clues about the earliest colonization of dry land by plants.
DOE JGI Plumbs Termite Guts to Yield Novel Enzymes for Better Biofuel Production
Termites -- notorious for their voracious appetite for wood, rendering houses to dust and causing billions of dollars in damage per year -- may provide the biochemical means to a greener biofuel future.
Massive Reanalysis of Genome Data Solves Case of the Lethal Genes
[A JGI] survey identified genes that kill the bacteria employed in the sequencing process and throw a microbial wrench in the works. It also offers a possible strategy for the discovery of new antibiotics.
Green Alga Genome Project Catalogs Carbon Capture Machinery and Reveals Identity as Ancient Cousin of Land Plants and Animals
The genome analysis of a tiny green alga has uncovered hundreds of genes that are uniquely associated with carbon dioxide capture and generation of biomass.
DOE JGI Sets 'Gold Standard' for Metagenomic Data Analysis
The field of metagenomics is still in its infancy--the equivalent of the early days of the California Gold Rush, with labs vying to stake their claim. Amidst the prospecting, the call has been issued for methods to separate fool's gold from the real nuggets. Such a gold standard has now been provided through work led by DOE JGI.
Puzzling Plankton Yield Secrets to Role in Evolution/Global Photosynthesis
The analysis of DNA sequences from tiny green algae have provided new insights into the mystery of how new species of plankton evolve—and further highlights their critical role in managing the global cycling of carbon.
Super-Fermenting Fungus Genome Sequenced
For cellulosic ethanol production, one major detour is being addressed with the characterization of the genetic blueprint of the fungus Pichia stipitis.
Genomic Comparison of Lactic Acid Bacteria Published
Researchers from DOE JGI and the University of California, Davis, and their colleagues have characterized the genome sequences of nine different lactic acid-producing bacteria.
Better Sludge through Metagenomics
Researchers from DOE JGI and collaborators at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Advanced Wastewater Management Centre, University of Queensland, Australia, have published the first metagenomic study of an activated sludge wastewater treatment process.
No Guts, No Worries: Worm Enlists Full-Service Microbes for Transportation, Energy, & Waste Management
Researchers have now characterized the unique lifestyle of a gutless worm that commutes through marine sediments powered by a community of symbiotic microbial specialists harbored just under its skin, obviating the need for digestive and excretory systems.
The First Tree Genome is Published
Wood from a common tree may one day factor prominently in meeting transportation fuel needs, according to scientists whose research on the fast-growing poplar tree is featured on the cover of the journal Science.
DOE JGI, VBI Describe Evolutionary Origin, Disease-Causing Mechanisms of Sudden Oak Death, Related Soybean Disease Pathogens
By comparing the complete genome sequences of two plant-killing pathogens and related organisms, researchers have uncovered crucial aspects of the disease-causing mechanisms of "Sudden Oak Death" (SOD) and soybean root rot disease.
DOE JGI Sequences, Releases Genome of Symbiotic Tree Fungus
The DNA sequence of Laccaria bicolor, a fungus that forms a beneficial symbiosis with trees and inhabits one of the most ecologically and commercially important microbial niches in North American and Eurasian forests, has been determined by DOE JGI.
Ancient Cave Bear DNA Successfully Sequenced
Scientists have obtained informative DNA sequences from cave bear bones more than 40,000 years old.
Gene-Based Approach to Metagenomics Provides Environmental Fingerprints
Researchers from JGI, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, UC Berkeley, and Diversa Corporation have investigated a new gene-based approach to analyzing sequences from environmental samples--no assembly required.
Human Chromosome 16 Sequence Details Extensive Duplication
JGI researchers, in collaboration with scientists from six other institutions, have completed the sequencing and analysis of human chromosome 16.
Deletion of Noncoding DNA Suggests Some Sequences Disposable
Researchers from JGI and Berkeley Lab's Genomics Division have found that deleting large stretches of noncoding DNA can yield surprisingly healthy mice.
Human Chromosome 5: Few Genes, Many Repeats
A team of JGI collaborators from across the United States has announced the completion of the finished sequence for human chromosome 5.
Human Chromosome 19 Sequence Revealed
The finished sequence of human chromosome 19, the most gene dense of all human chromosomes, has been released by JGI and its collaborators.
Reconstructing the Iron Mountain Community
An EPA superfund site nasty enough to dissolve a shovel over night may get some help from new genomic research.
