Despite the persistent presence of potentially harmful fungi and bacteria, America’s native prairies are healthy, thriving communities of perennial herbaceous plants. How do these communities maintain a balance with these microbes? Bacteria and fungi found in native prairie soil, are mutually antagonist and thus may keep each other in check. Each produces antibiotic compounds when… [Read More]

Wetland mangroves are among the most productive ecosystems on the planet, generating a substantial amount of methane each year. Researchers know very little about how the microbial communities responsible for methanogenesis respond to climatic shifts. Since these communities experience strong subtropical seasonal and diurnal changes in light and temperature, the team aims to track temporal… [Read More]

This proposal seeks to study viruses and microbes in nearly unexplored extreme environments including hydrothermal vents, glacial sea ice, and modern and ancient sea brines. The team will develop catalogs of which viruses are there, and use these to explore their genomes to identify genes the viruses have ‘stolen’ to augment a key microbial metabolism… [Read More]

Recent advances have revealed the importance of microbes on plant and animal health. For plant productivity, no microbe-plant association is more important than that between rhizobia bacteria and legume plants. This symbiosis is the major natural contributor of nitrogen, a nutrient that limits plant growth in agricultural and natural systems. This work will identify genes… [Read More]

Iron and sulfur are important elements to all life on Earth. Some groups of bacteria use iron and sulfur as energy sources and make organic carbon (sugars) from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. These bacteria, known as iron- and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, are found in the sediments and waters of the ocean and on land. They… [Read More]

By incubating soil with position-specific 13C-labeled glucose and determining the isotope distribution in the pyruvate that is produced, researchers will distinguish between two forms of glycolysis that may occur in intact microbial communities. Additionally, they will sequence DNA and RNA from soils and use that information to improve metabolic models. Improved understanding of microbial energy… [Read More]

The Laurentian Great Lakes hold 20 percent of Earth’s surface freshwater and provide inestimable ecosystem services, yet surprisingly little is known about the structure and activity of microbial communities in this ecosystem. This project seeks to characterize the metabolic diversity and activity of microbes across the Great Lakes, and to understand how these microbes control… [Read More]

This project seeks to exploit the unique ability of the fungus Phlebiopsis gigantea to rapidly colonize freshly cut loblolly pine. Investigations will advance understanding of the early and exclusive deconstruction of coniferous wood by P. gigantea, provide a framework for functional analyses of hitherto unknown proteins, develop effective biocontrol strategies against economically important root rot… [Read More]

Trichoderma is a genus of fungi that has a broad impact on mankind. There are approximately 270 species of Trichoderma fungi that have varied interactions with other fungi, animals, plants, and efficiently degrade plant biomass material. One species in particular (T. reesei) is well-established for production of enzymes used in the biofuel and biorefinery industries…. [Read More]