Producing biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass is being investigated as a possible energy source to reduce the United States’ dependence on foreign oil. One challenge researchers face is that plant cell walls are complex structures composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, pectin, and protein. Current methods of breaking down these plant cell walls are not cheap, making…

First isolated in 1931, Shewanella bacteria are rock-dwelling and grow naturally almost everywhere. They can be found in freshwater lakes, marine sediments and play key roles in global carbon and nitrogen cycles. They are major microbial players in cleaning up environments contaminated with toxic metals and radioactive waste, and are capable of using contaminants such…

Wheat and barley have been and will continue to be the cereal crops of major importance in the United States and around the world. In 2008, the U.S. produced over 130 million tons of wheat, third in the world behind China and India. Fungal diseases such as spot blotch are a consistent source of economic…

Algae sequester roughly half of the carbon dioxide generated, and the DOE JGI has already sequenced genomes of the algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (made available 2007) and two species of Chlorella, while the sequencing of a fourth, the salt water alga Dunaliella salina, is underway. Understanding how algal gene function is affected by varying levels of…

Diatoms are photosynthetic microorganisms found in both freshwater and marine ecosystems. They fix as much as 40 percent of the global ocean carbon. The DOE JGI has sequenced two diatoms: Thalassiosira pseudonana and Phaeodactylum tricornutum, and has made available the complete draft genome of a third, Fragillariopsis cylindrus. Neither of these species demonstrate a typical…

As temperatures rise around the world, species need to adapt to the changing ecosystem in order to thrive. In 2008, drought and high temperatures cost $2 billion in agricultural losses to California, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee. Finding ways in which plants can adapt and thrive in higher temperature regions would help…

Considered one of the world’s most invasive species, Phytopthora cinnamomi is found around the world and lives in the soil and plant tissues. A root-infecting pathogen, it thrives in a wide range of hosts and can attack more than 4,000 plant species. In the United States, the phytopathogen’s first known attack more than 200 years…

Commonly known as fire moss, Ceratodon purpureus has been used as a model system to discover novel genes because it can tolerate induced mutations. The fire moss also thrives in a variety of habitats from urban environments to metal contaminated soils such as near mining operations. Part of its adaptability to such diverse ecosystems comes…

Amanita thiersii is a white, sticky mushroom that obtains its carbon by decomposing grasses, playing a role in the terrestrial carbon cycle. The fungus is commonly found in grasslands throughout the central United States and grows in grassy areas away from trees, often seen on lawns after the rain. By sequencing A. thiersii’s genome, researchers…

Wine and beer makers know Brettanomyces custersii as the invasive yeast that contaminates the fermentation process, ruining entire batches of the alcohol and leaving a distinctive odor of taint. Scientists know the yeast by another name, Dekkera bruxellensis, and are interested in sequencing the genome because the biofuel production process, like making wine or beer,…