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MycoCosm, the JGI’s Fungal Genome Portal for Comparative Genomic and Multiomics Data Analyses

MycoCosm (https://mycocosm.jgi.doe.gov/) is an integrated fungal genomics portal that currently includes over 2000 fungal genomes. Efficiently exploring these genomes allows the scientific community to address challenges associated with energy and the environment. Here, we provide examples and guidelines for navigating around MycoCosm, and for using a variety of analysis tools to compare genomics and other… [Read More]

Tissue Cultivation, Preparation, and Extraction of High Molecular Weight DNA for Single-Molecule Genome Sequencing of Plant-Associated Fungi

Extraction of high-quality, high molecular weight DNA is a critical step for sequencing an organism’s genome. For fungi, DNA extraction is often complicated by co-precipitation of secondary metabolites, the most destructive being polysaccharides, polyphenols, and melanin. Different DNA extraction protocols and clean-up methods have been developed to address challenging materials and contaminants; however, the method… [Read More]

Global patterns of diversity and metabolism of microbial communities in deep-sea hydrothermal vent deposits

BackgroundWhen deep-sea hydrothermal fluids mix with cold oxygenated fluids, minerals precipitate out of solution and form hydrothermal deposits. These actively venting deep-sea hydrothermal deposits support a rich diversity of thermophilic microorganisms which are involved in a range of carbon, sulfur, nitrogen, and hydrogen metabolisms. Global patterns of thermophilic microbial diversity in deep-sea hydrothermal ecosystems have… [Read More]

Protist impacts on marine cyanovirocell metabolism

The fate of oceanic carbon and nutrients depends on interactions between viruses, prokaryotes, and unicellular eukaryotes (protists) in a highly interconnected planktonic food web. To date, few controlled mechanistic studies of these interactions exist, and where they do, they are largely pairwise, focusing either on viral infection (i.e., virocells) or protist predation. Here we studied… [Read More]

Multiple origins, one evolutionary trajectory: gradual evolution characterizes distinct lineages of allotetraploid Brachypodium.

The ‘genomic shock’ hypothesis posits that unusual challenges to genome integrity such as whole genome duplication (WGD) may induce chaotic genome restructuring. Decades of research on polyploid genomes have revealed that this is often, but not always the case. While some polyploids show major chromosomal rearrangements and de-repression of transposable elements (TEs) in the immediate… [Read More]

Co‑cultivation of anaerobic fungi with Clostridium acetobutylicum bolsters butyrate and butanol production from cellulose and lignocellulose.

A system for co-cultivation of anaerobic fungi with anaerobic bacteria was established based on lactate cross-feeding to produce butyrate and butanol from plant biomass. Several co-culture formulations were assembled that consisted of anaerobic fungi (Anaeromyces robustus, Neocallimastix californiae, or Caecomyces churrovis) with the bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum. Co-cultures were grown simultaneously (e.g. ‘one pot’), and compared… [Read More]

TbasCO: trait-based comparative ‘omics identifies ecosystem-level and niche-differentiating adaptations of an engineered microbiome

A grand challenge in microbial ecology is disentangling the traits of individual populations within complex communities. Various cultivation-independent approaches have been used to infer traits based on the presence of marker genes. However, marker genes are not linked to traits with complete fidelity, nor do they capture important attributes, such as the timing of gene… [Read More]

Substrate availability and not thermal acclimation controls microbial temperature sensitivity response to long‐term warming

Microbes are responsible for cycling carbon (C) through soils, and predicted changes in soil C stocks under climate change are highly sensitive to shifts in the mechanisms assumed to control the microbial physiological response to warming. Two mechanisms have been suggested to explain the long-term warming impact on microbial physiology: microbial thermal acclimation and changes… [Read More]

Convergent evolution and horizontal gene transfer in Arctic Ocean microalgae

Microbial communities in the world ocean are affected strongly by oceanic circulation, creating characteristic marine biomes. The high connectivity of most of the ocean makes it difficult to disentangle selective retention of colonizing genotypes (with traits suited to biome specific conditions) from evolutionary selection, which would act on founder genotypes over time. The Arctic Ocean… [Read More]