A five-tier metagenome classification system would  enable genomic researchers to better extract and understand data. (Image from Ivanova et al. Env Microbiol. 2010: 12(7):1803-1805.) Studying the genomes of microbial communities, or metagenomics, has been facilitated in the last few years by advances in sequencing technologies. However, as the DOE JGI’s Natalia Ivanova, Susannah Tringe, Dino… [Read More]

Breaking down organic wastes typically involves microbial communities of bacteria and archaea working in concert with methanogens, which remove the hydrogen generated during the degradation process. The interactions between these syntrophic communities are being studied to understand the roles these microbes play individually and and as whole. In the August 2010 issue of the journal… [Read More]

Marine eukaryotes such as diatoms and phytoplankton sequester as much as 50 billion tons or gigatons of carbon annually, but very little is known about the tiny microorganisms that primarily make up this group, and their role in the global carbon cycle. To help answer this question, a team led by DOE JGI collaborator Alexandra… [Read More]

Many sequencing projects at the DOE JGI focus on identifying enzymes in organisms such as fungi that can break down cellulose in plant mass to help bring down the cost of biofuel production. As DOE JGI Fungal Genomics Program head Igor Grigoriev noted, “When we go into a forest we don’t see layers of dead… [Read More]