Microbes disprove long-held assumption that all organisms share a common vocabulary. The Science: Through single-cell genomics and metagenomics, researchers exploring the planet’s microbial diversity have found that not all organisms interpret a series of short genetic sequences to mean the same thing. The Impact: The ability to study microbes in the wild helps researchers realize… [Read More]
“It doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people doesn’t add up to a hill of beans in this crazy world,” Humphrey Bogart famously said in the movie Casablanca. For the farmers and breeders around the world growing the common bean, however, ensuring that there is an abundant supply of this… [Read More]
Citrus is the world’s most widely cultivated fruit crop. In the U.S. alone, the citrus crop was valued at over $3.1 billion in 2013. Originally domesticated in Southeast Asia thousands of years ago before spreading throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas via trade, citrus is now under attack from citrus greening, an insidious emerging infectious… [Read More]
A review of studies to better understand effects of climate change on microbial activities. The Science: Researchers are harnessing strategies including metagenomics to learn more about the microbial communities in permafrost and their current and potential responses to climate change. The Impact: Researchers estimate that permafrost covers a quarter of the plant’s land area, and… [Read More]
Fungal genome offers insights into growing crops in salty environments. The Science: Researchers sequenced and analyzed the genome of an extremophilic fungus that has adapted to thrive in the Dead Sea. The Impact: The genome provides information on how the fungus can tolerate extremely salty conditions. As climate change continues to affect agricultural lands and… [Read More]
In the Lewis Carroll classic, Through the Looking Glass, Humpty Dumpty states, “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” In turn, Alice (of Wonderland fame) says, “The question is, whether you can make words mean so many different things.” All organisms on Earth use a genetic code, which is… [Read More]
Functional annotation reveals novel biomass-degrading enzymes from microbial genomes. The Science: Functional annotation allowed researchers to identify biomass-degrading enzymes in the 35 percent of genes in a genome that are considered “genomic dark matter.” The Impact: Identifying 17 putative biomass-degrading cellulases from the content of more than 5,500 microbial genomes is of use to bioenergy… [Read More]
Single cell genomics reveals diversity of cyanobacteria subpopulations. The Science: Single cell genomics allowed researchers to examine the subpopulations of the marine microbe Prochlorococcus, affording a glimpse at “a new dimension of microdiversity.” The Impact: The cyanobacterial subpopulations were found to be distinct, comprised of “genomic backbones” made of highly conserved core gene alleles and… [Read More]
Despite its name, the Dead Sea does support life, and not just in the sense of helping visitors float in its waters. Algae, bacteria, and fungi make up the limited number of species that can tolerate the extremely salty environment at the lowest point on Earth. Some organisms thrive in salty environments by lying dormant… [Read More]
Detailed protocol outlines steps for extracting ample DNA from uncultured microbes. The Science: Characterizing uncultured microbes starts with isolating and sequencing enough DNA from an environmental sample that may be as small as a single cell. The Impact: The protocol has been successfully employed to amplify the genomes of 201 single cells from uncultured microbes… [Read More]