The researchers say one gram of the soil could contain thousands of different kinds of microbes and billions of cells. They say these organisms had never before been cultured in a laboratory. JANET JANSSON: “So more than ninety percent of those bacteria and other microorganisms in permafrost, we had no idea what they were.” Read…
Boosting knowledge of nitrogen-fixing bacteria
No plant is an island; interactions with complex microbial communities both above the ground and below the ground shape the plant’s growth rates and overall health. Understanding these plant-microbe interactions can lead to improvements in plant health and productivity and carbon sequestration, which can be applied toward DOE missions in bioenergy and biogeochemistry. Dark-field photo…
Tanja Woyke: Genome Technology 2011 Young Investigator
What inspired Tanja Woyke to pursue her current area of focus is also what makes it possible: single-cell genomic technology. “It allows one to sequence the genome of one individual microbial cell by amplifying its genome a billion-fold using a process called multiple displacement amplification,” she says. “I find this quite fascinating. Such an approach…
Engineering bacteria to produce biodiesel
Biodiesel production typically starts with oil-rich energy crops such as soybean, palm or rapeseed, which are harvested and then converted into fatty acids for use as fuel. The cost of expanding oilseed crop production is a limiting factor in allowing biodiesel to compete with fossil fuel sources. One alternative to using oilseed crops that many…
Spider mite genome project in CBC News
“They can change the repertoire [of genes] that they’re using in order to be able to feed on hosts that they would not be adapted to,” said Miodrag Grbic, a University of Western Ontario biologist, who led an international project to sequence the spider mite’s genome. The results were published this week in the journal…
Mite genome to help protect bioenergy feedstocks
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…