DOE Mission Relevance

The DOE-Joint Genome Institute (DOE-JGI) is managed by the Department of Energy’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER) to produce high-throughput DNA sequencing and analysis in support of its missions in alternative energy, global carbon cycling, and bioremediation. These areas mirror DOE and national priorities to develop abundant sources of clean energy, to control greenhouse gas accumulation in the atmosphere (especially carbon dioxide, a key factor in global climate change), and to clean up contaminated sites for which DOE has ownership or stewardship responsibilities. Projects with direct relevance in these areas will have the best chance for selection. Projects focused on organisms for comparative purposes also are welcomed, but the applicant should clearly outline how sequencing of the proposed organism(s) will further a DOE mission.

Alternative energy production

DOE has established a roadmap for replacing 30% of US petroleum use for transportation with alternative fuels by 2030 (http://genomicsgtl.energy.gov/roadmap/index.shtml). The most promising strategy to accomplish this goal is through large-scale biomass conversion to ethanol (http://genomicsgtl.energy.gov/biofuels/b2bworkshop.shtml). The DOE-JGI welcomes innovative sequence-based proposals that will lead to the development or improvement of biomass feedstocks, identification of novel enzymes for the degradation of lignocellulose, better understanding of biomass degradation in nature, as well as improved understanding of organisms capable of producing alternative fuels or possessing metabolic pathways that might facilitate engineering of existing organisms to produce alternative fuels.

Global carbon cycling

OBER has a long-standing interest in global climate change due to the accumulation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as a result of human activity. While the microbial world plays important roles as both carbon sources and sinks in marine and terrestrial environments, the organisms involved are poorly understood. The DOE-JGI welcomes innovative sequence-based proposals that seek to understand the contributions of microbes to fundamental carbon cycling mechanisms of the biosphere as a basis, ultimately, for positively affecting carbon sequestration by terrestrial or ocean ecosystems.

Bioremediation

DOE owns, or has long-term stewardship responsibility for, many sites contaminated with legacy wastes stemming from nuclear power and weapons production. Various metal and radionuclide contaminants (U, Pu, Cr, Hg, Tc, etc.) and organic contaminants such as halogenated solvents (carbon tetrachloride, TCE, PCE, etc.) pose an environmental threat at these sites. Microorganisms are known to transform and influence the mobility of contaminants in the subsurface, but the identity and potential functions of these diverse organisms remain incompletely understood and largely qualitative. DOE-JGI seeks to expand this knowledge through genome sequencing of microbial isolates and communities of microorganisms, microbial surveys of contaminated sites, and metagenome studies of complex environments. This can form a basis for increased scientific understanding to support the incorporation of coupled biological, chemical, and physical processes into decision making for environmental remediation and/or long-term stewardship. These efforts also will lay the foundation for quantitative microbial ecology and a mechanistic understanding of bioremediation processes.