The tiny two-spotted spider mite extracts nutrients from the leaves of 1,100 plant species including bioenergy feedstock crops. The global cost of chemically controlling this pest is estimated to be around $1 billion annually. Given its potential to significantly reduce crop yields and inhibit biofuel production, the spider mite Tetranychusurticaewas selected for the 2007 DOE…
Spider mite genome project in GenomeWeb
The spider mite, named for its ability to spin webs, belongs to an arthropod sub-group comprised of so-called chelicerates and is capable of consuming more than 1,100 plant species. This trait, coupled with its ability to develop resistance to most commonly used pesticides, have made it a potent pest, known for damaging ornamental plants and…
Mite-y Genomic Resources For Bioenergy Crop Protection
WALNUT CREEK/BERKELEY, Calif.—For a pest that isn’t quite the size of a comma on a keyboard, the two-spotted spider mite can do a disproportionate amount of damage. These web-spinners extract the nutrients they need from leaves of more than a thousand different plant species, including bioenergy feedstocks and food staples. The cost of chemically controlling…
New tools for the IMG/M analysis system
Since the initial release of the Integrated Microbial Genomes with Microbiome samples (IMG/M) system in 2007 to support the comparative analysis of metagenomic data sets, DOE JGI researchers have made several updates in order to keep pace with the rapid increase in data set generation due to advances in sequencing technologies. As reported by researchers…
DOE JGI research featured in io9
Last month I was lucky enough to visit one of the biggest genomics labs in the world. At the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) in Walnut Creek, CA, huge rooms full of genome sequencing machines work 24/7 to crunch the codes that create life. And the research here, funded by the US Department of Energy, has…
Microbial response to the thawing Arctic
The frozen Arctic soils keep an estimated 1,672 billion metric tons of carbon out of the Earth’s atmosphere, more than 250 times the amount of greenhouse gas emissions attributed to the United States in the year 2009. Rising global temperatures have led to increasing concerns on the potential impacts of thawing permafrost upon the carbon…
Danforth Center highlights plant projects for CSP 2012
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI) has selected two projects from a highly competitive pool of applications, submitted by Danforth Plant Science Center Principal Investigators, Dr. Thomas Brutnell and Dr. Todd Mockler as part of its 2012 Community Sequencing Program (CSP). Read more at the Danforth Center News site.
Permafrost soil metagenome study in Wired UK
As permafrost thaws, trapped frozen organic matter becomes accessible for microbes to degrade, releasing greenhouse gases as a byproduct. Understanding what sorts of microbes are in the ice is key to predicting the impact of the melting of permafrost soils.The US Department of Energy has teamed up with the Joint Genome Institute, the Earth Sciences Division of…
Permafrost soil metagenome study on Voice of America
Lead author Janet Jansson, senior scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California says the trapped microorganisms in permafrost are still active. Jansson and colleagues at the U.S. Geological Survey and the Joint Genome Institute at the Department of Energy set out to identify microbes in permafrost and find out what they would do once…
Permafrost soil metagenome study on Medill News Reports
Microbes frozen for thousands of years can spring to life and digest the carbon to release heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere, amplifying warming and melting. Scientists can’t yet predict how much of the carbon stored in Arctic permafrost will reach the atmosphere, but microbes could play a pivotal role. Read more on Medill Reports Chicago