News & Publications

A photo taken in the deep sea. Black clouds billow out of hydrothermal vents.

May 16, 2023

New Research Sheds Light on Diversity in the Deep Sea

The bacteria, archaea and other microorganisms of the microbial communities around hydrothermal vents survive in very hot, high-pressure and chemically-rich ecosystems. This means they hold clues for understanding how life thrives in extreme environments. [Read More]

A photo of two sphagnum species: S. divinum (red) and S. angustifolium (green)]

April 7, 2023

Sequencing Sphagnum Leads to Discovery of Sex Chromosomes

Boggy peatlands, which hold much of the Earth’s carbon as well as material that can be converted to energy, are made up heavily of sphagnum mosses. [Read More]

Pictured is a micrograph of Neocallimastix californiae.

March 9, 2023

Busting the Unbreakable Lignin

A new study offers the first irrefutable proof that anaerobic fungi — the kind living in the stomachs of livestock — can deconstruct lignin in the absence of oxygen. [Read More]

A vertical tree stump outdoors with about a dozen shiitake mushrooms sprouting from its surface.

February 28, 2023

Tracing the Evolution of Shiitake Mushrooms

New genomes highlight the diversity of white rot fungi in the genus Lentinula. [Read More]