Chlamydomonas is a single-celled green alga while its close kin Volvox is a multicellular green alga. Both algae are well-studied models and have been sequenced before (see “Why Sequence the Mating Loci of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Volvox carteri?”) using Sanger or shotgun sequencing. Researchers hope to get more information from the genomes by re-sequencing the…
Why Sequence Botryococcus braunii?
Botryococcus braunii is a colony-forming green microalga of the species Chlorophyceae. It is found in many environments across the globe and has been noted to be capable of growing in both freshwater and brackish environments. During the growth cycle of this organism, the algae synthesize long-chain liquid hydrocarbon compounds and sequester them in the extracellular…
Why Sequence Dendroctonus frontalis?
The Southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis, is a destructive pest that can convert forests of pine trees from carbon sinks to potential carbon sources as dead trees increase the risk of forest fires. A 2008 outbreak was estimated to have destroyed half a million acres of pine trees in the southern United States. Climate change…
Why Sequence Thalassiosira rotula?
Diatoms are responsible for significant amounts of marine primary production. In response to favorable light and nutrient conditions, diatoms rapidly divide and form large blooms. As blooms propagate, nutrients are depleted, growth ceases, and cells sink to the deep ocean. The sinking diatom blooms fuel the biological carbon pump and export carbon from the atmosphere…
Why Sequence Paralvinella sulfincola ESTs?
Paralvinella sulfincola is a polychaete worm indigenous to hydrothermal vents, and may be the most thermotolerant animal on Earth. In recent years, with the onset of increasing atmospheric temperatures, there has been a renewed interest in organismal thermotolerance. Indeed, one of the driving ecological questions today concerns biological response to environmental stressors such as temperature….
Why Sequence Chlamydomonas by New Methods?
Chlamydomonas is a well studied model organism for which microarray gene expression data and the nuclear genome sequence are available. Still, our knowledge of gene expression is limited, since microarray technology is not ideal for detecting low-abundance mRNAs and small changes in gene expression. Sequencing an organism that has such a set of genomic resources…
Why Sequence Ceriporiopsis subvermispora?
Global conversion of organic carbon to CO2 with simultaneous reduction of molecular oxygen involves the combined metabolic activity of numerous microorganisms. The most abundant source of carbon is plant biomass, composed primarily of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Many microorganisms are capable of utilizing cellulose and hemicellulose as carbon and energy sources, but a much smaller…
Why Sequence Rhizopogon salebrosus?
On October 3, 1995, smoke from the remains of an illegal campfire was spotted at Point Reyes National State Park in northern California. Over the next week, just over 12,000 acres burned, most of it concentrated at Mt. Vision in Point Reyes National Seashore, and several dozen homes were razed. Some 70 percent of the…
Why Sequence Trichoderma reesei Mutant strains?
Trichoderma reesei is the workhorse organism for a number of industrial enzyme companies for the production of cellulases. The costs associated with enzymes that degrade biomass are considered a bottleneck to economic lignocellulosic fuel ethanol. The DOE has made large investments in bioenergy research with the goal of economically viable cellulosic ethanol. One of the…
Why sequence metagenomics of uncultured marine eukaryotes?
Marine microbes help fix carbon in the deep ocean, and this process is crucial to regulating the planet’s atmosphere. Unfortunately, a large portion of the microbes responsible for these various cycles are uncultured, and thus hard to study. As the global temperature shifts, it is more likely that conditions will favor smaller microbes that can tolerate…