The team is investigating desiccation tolerance in a very phylogenetically broad group of green microalgae isolated from microbiotic crusts of the desert southwestern United States. These algae fall in multiple, evolutionarily independent lineages (in at least 7 algal classes) that made the leap from aquatic to desert habitats. They exhibit clearly stronger desiccation tolerance than… [Read More]

Recent findings of genomic complexity in the form of mobile elements and evidence for extensive horizontal gene transfer, as well as community complexity in the form of trophic associations with other bacteria, drives the team to gain a better understanding of these communities and their molecular underpinnings. The team plans to generate “single-cell” (meta-)genomes of… [Read More]

The goal of this CSP is deep-sequencing of highly diverse sorghum lines to assemble and analyze the pan-genome of this important bioenergy crop. Sorghum is a promising lignocellulosic and saccharine bioenergy crop, one of the DOE-JGI’s flagship species, and an important food and feed crop. In order to accelerate breeding and development of elite sorghum… [Read More]

The team aims to study organic sulfur biogeochemistry in a coastal ocean ecosystem. In fall 2014, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) Environmental Sample Processor (ESP) was deployed in Monterey Bay, CA to collect a high-resolution microbial community time-series for analysis of bacterially-mediated organic sulfur transformations. Concurrent data on chlorophyll concentrations, bacterial and phytoplankton cell… [Read More]

The genus Suillus is one the more iconic and easily recognized genera of mushrooms. As symbiotic ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF), Suillus spp. play critical roles in the function of forest ecosystems by providing their plant hosts with mineral resources in exchange for photosynthetically fixed carbon. Our project seeks to generate a comprehensive understanding of the co-evolutionary… [Read More]

How do microbes respond to such a wide range of pressures? To study this question, the team will use strains of the genus Carnobacterium, which are psychrotolerant, facultatively anaerobic Gram-positive bacteria that grow at both low and high P extremes. Their working hypothesis is that bacteria adapt to the P environment by altering both their methylomes… [Read More]

To understand how patterns of oxygen (O2) availability alter microbial community structure, activity and biogeochemical fluxes, the team conducted a redox oscillation study with Luquillo Experimental Forest (LEF), Puerto Rico soils, and preserved samples for molecular analysis and geochemical data (Fe speciation and spectroscopy, P availability, pH, trace gases, and organic matter turnover and fate). In… [Read More]

Descriptions of soil emissions of reactive nitrogen (NOy) in climate models are underdeveloped or nonexistent, due to the fact that details of the mechanisms leading to nitrous acid (HONO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) formation in soil are lacking. This represents a major gap in our understanding of a significant land-atmosphere interaction that prevents us from… [Read More]

The team aims to understand system-level temporal dynamics of microbial interactions in a synthetic bacterial community. The overarching goal is to understand how the interactions among members of microbial communities determine the emergent properties of the system. Do multi-member microbial communities perform differently, given different membership compositions, then expected by the summation of individual member performances? If… [Read More]

This proposal aims to explore the genetic diversity of Melampsora americana willow rust in the Northeast United States by performing full de novo Illumina and PacBio sequencing of a representative isolate to act as a reference genome for future analyses. Melampsora spp. rusts remain the most threatening pathogens of Salicaceae bioenergy crops in the Northern… [Read More]