New high-throughput and cost-effective approaches provide a better understanding of microbiome functioning Many uncultured microbes play unknown roles in regulating Earth’s biogeochemical processes; everything from regulating plant health to driving nutrient cycles in both terrestrial and marine environments, processes that can impact global climate. While researchers are harnessing multiple approaches to identify these microbes, referred to… [Read More]

Genome sequences provide clues to the evolution of sensory perception Fungi can sense environmental signals and react accordingly, changing their development, direction of growth, and metabolism. Sensory perception lies at the heart of adaptation to changing conditions, and helps fungi to improve growth and recycle organic waste, and to know when and how to infect… [Read More]

A National Microbiome Data Center is essential for enabling exploration of all the environmental genomic data. Massive amounts of data require infrastructure to manage and store the information in a manner than can be easily accessed for use. While technologies have scaled to allow researchers to sequence and annotate communities of microorganisms within an environment,… [Read More]

Comparative analysis highlights impacts of previous breeding programs on cassava genome. For nearly a billion people around the world, cassava is a staple crop and a primary source of calories. The plant is easy to cultivate – cuttings grow well on marginal land—and it is very tolerant of drought. For the U.S. Department of Energy,… [Read More]

Researchers show deviations in an amino acid’s code can occur naturally. Four letters – A, C, G and T – stand in for the four chemical bases that store information in DNA. A sequence of these same four letters, repeating in a particular order, genetically defines an organism. Within the genome sequence are shorter, three-letter… [Read More]

Research team taps EMSL, DOE JGI to harness promising fungi found in manure Nature’s figured it out already, how to best break down food into fuel. Now scientists have caught up, showing that fungi found in the guts of goats, horses and sheep could help fill up your gas tank too. The researchers report in… [Read More]

First marine flowering plant genome provides clues on how crops could adapt to saline environments. To mitigate carbon emissions in the atmosphere, researchers have turned to sinks–reservoirs that accumulate and store carbon such as tropical rainforests, but also including a variety of terrestrial plants as well as oceans. However, another lesser known but very large… [Read More]

Metagenomics and single cell strategies help reveal a novel bacterial phylum. Although global microbial populations are orders of magnitude larger than nearly any other population in, on or around the planet, only a fraction has been identified thus far. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking to uncover the true extent of the planet’s… [Read More]

2016 Community Science Program proposals build upon DOE JGI-generated reference genomes. The U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI), a DOE Office of Science User Facility, has announced that 27 new projects have been selected for the 2016 Community Science Program (CSP). “These new CSP projects, selected through our external review process, exploit… [Read More]