In the August edition of The Journal of Bacteriology, a group of scientists including several DOE JGI researchers and longtime collaborator Judy Wall of the University of Missouri described the genome for Desulfovibrio africanus, a sulfate-reducing bacterium isolated from Namibia that doesn’t require oxygen for its survival. Like the Desulfovibrio species sequenced as recently as…
Sweetening the Biofuels Production Process
Currently, converting cellulosic biomass into biofuels is inefficient and costly. One of the barriers to reducing costs and yields is that xylose, a five-carbon sugar that represents nearly half of available sugars in plant (in the form of hemicellulose), is extremely difficult and time-consuming to break down using enzymes sourced from conventional yeast strains. In…
Eucalyptus genome project on Science in Public
The genome of one of Australia’s biggest Eucalyptus trees, the Flooded Gum or Eucalyptus grandis, has now been mapped, allowing scientists and conservationists an insight into the secrets of an important piece of Australiana.Eucalyptus has become the most popular plantation tree in the world – with millions of hectares planted in Africa, America, Europe and…
Ethanol Contaminant Could Assist Production Efficiency
An Ethanol plant in Bairstown, Iowa (Courtesy of USDA) In the August edition of The Journal of Bacteriology, researchers led by long-time collaborator David Mills of the University of California Davis, and including DOE JGI’s Alex Copeland, Olga Chertkov and Lynne Goodwin, announced the completed genome sequence of Lactobacillus buchneri and has now been made…
Dry rot (Serpula) genome on ScienceNewsline
As reported online July 14 in Science Express, an international team of scientists including DOE JGI researchers compared the genome of Serpula lacrymans, the second brown rot fungus to have its genome sequenced, against 10 other published fungal genomes. The DOE JGI sequenced seven of these genomes among them Postia placenta, the first brown rot…
Destroyer of Houses Harnessed for Biofuel Production
Although people rarely see the positives when their wooden houses begin to rot, scientists at the DOE JGI have found a silver lining in this destructive phenomenon. Through DNA sequencing and a comparative analysis with other fungi that DOE JGI has characterized, researchers have homed in on the mechanisms that the brown rot, Serpula lacrymans,…
Dry rot (Serpula) genome project on eNews Park Forest
In 2007 the US Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute sequenced Serpula lacrymans in order to see if the way it breaks down cellulose in wood could be harnessed for biofuel production. An international team analysing the genome have found the enzyme mechanisms that could explain the aggressive decay caused by this form of dry…
Dry rot (Serpula) project in Biofuels Journal
“For example, if you go back far enough in time to the period when trees were developing, there was no way to break lignocellulose down, which led to the coal seams we tap today.“When the fungi figured out how to break down lignocellulose, the coevolution of the fungi and trees kick-started the carbon cycle again.”…
Dry rot (Serpula) genome project on Greenwire
Researchers have sequenced the genome for brown rot — also known as dry rot — in a step that could have applications for biofuels and better understanding of forest carbon cycling. Dry rot, a scourge of homeowners, is a fungus that decays wood by attacking its sugars — cellulose and hemicellulose — and working around…
Dry rot (Serpula) genome project on WalesOnline
WELSH scientists are looking at harnessing the power of the virulent fungus which causes dry rot to help make biofuels of the future. Closer examination of the damaging fungus Serpula lacrymans as part of an international project led by Swansea University could also hold the key to protecting buildings from dry rot. Read more at…