If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, so the adage goes, it must be a duck. But if the duck gets infected by a virus so that it no longer looks or quacks like one, is it still a duck? For a team led by researchers from The Ohio State University and the University of Michigan studying how virus infections cause significant metabolic changes in marine microbes, the answer is no. They refer to the infected microbial cells as virocells, a change in name which reflects the metabolic changes they’ve undergone. [Read More]
JGI researchers are sharing their expertise in environmental genomics by writing for the column Genome Watch in Nature Reviews Microbiology. In 2018. Tanja Woyke, who leads the Microbial Program at the JGI, received a message from Andrea Du Toit, senior editor for Nature Reviews Microbiology, with an unusual opportunity: would JGI researchers consider regularly writing for the magazine’s column Genome Watch? [Read More]
JGI-led team significantly expands the global diversity of large and giant viruses. While the microbes in a single drop of water could outnumber a small city’s population, the number of viruses in the same drop—the vast majority not harmful to humans could be even larger. Viruses infect bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes, and they range in… [Read More]
Journal publication caps JGI pilot project with fledgling Florida high school scientists. The Florida Everglades evokes images of fanboats skimming over swamps, while alligators peer through the waters and clouds of insects hover just above. Described as a “river of grass” that stretches some 580,000 square miles across southern Florida, they encompass a wide range… [Read More]
Virophages are small viruses with double-stranded DNA genomes that co-infect eukaryotic cells along with giant viruses. Almost all known virophage genomes share only four genes in common: major and minor capsid proteins (MCP and mCP, respectively), ATPase involved in DNA packaging, and PRO, a cysteine protease involved in capsid maturation. Recently reported in Microbiome, researchers… [Read More]
Scientists have wondered exactly how the honey bee gut microbial community carries out its helpful metabolism: who’s responsible for what biochemical processes? [Read More]
A “bait and hook” single-cell genomic approach to bioprospecting. The Science One of the most vital pieces of equipment for fly fishing is a boxful of lures. Designed with feathers or wires to mimic an insect or a particular movement, each of these lures are the bait designed to attract specific catches. A similar technique… [Read More]
Clarivate Analytics, formerly the IP & Science arm of Thomson Reuters, has released their 2019 list of Highly Cited Researchers, which includes 10 affiliated with the JGI . The 2019 list focused on Highly Cited Papers, defined in the Methodology section as “those that rank in the top 1% by citations for papers published and… [Read More]
Over 40 percent of the cereal crop’s genes respond to drought stress. The Science Fields of drooping stalks and cracked earth are becoming common images in many regions due to more extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts and floods. The planet’s resources are being stretched by a growing human population and increasing demand… [Read More]
JGI is in the process of shifting its operations from Walnut Creek to the heart of the Berkeley Lab campus. By Friday, October 18, the production sequencing labs in Building 100 were silent. Twenty years after the JGI united the genomics expertise of three national labs in one long building at Walnut Creek, after countless… [Read More]