A fungus relies on bacteria to regulate key components of its reproductive machinery The Science To better understand how beneficial organisms (symbionts) are transmitted between host generations, researchers investigated the role that bacteria living within a host (endosymbionts) have on fungal host reproduction, and the reproductive genes they regulate. The bacterial endosymbiont, Burkholderia, is recognized…
Succulent Genes for Water Use Efficiency
Comparative genomics identifies sequences involved in photosynthesis under reduced water conditions. The Science In the presence of sufficient water and light, most plants conduct photosynthesis through what is known as the C3 pathway. As plants spread out and adapted to live in a variety of environments, they developed alternate photosynthesis pathways, known as C4 and…
Insights into carbon fixation in the dark ocean
Nitrite-oxidizing bacteria have bigger role in marine carbon cycle than previously thought The Science Researchers have identified the most abundant and globally distributed nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) in the oceans, through single-cell genomics and community meta-omics. They have also calculated the NOB’s contribution toward trapping carbon beneath the sunlit waters and determined that though these bacteria…
J. Chris Pires, University of Missouri
“JGI has phenomenal scientists and staff who are part of our dream team.” How long have you collaborated with the JGI? I have been involved with the JGI Community Science Program (CSP) since 2012. I am involved in two JGI projects. The first one is the Brassicales Map Alignment Project (BMAP), which was funded…
White Rot Fungi’s Size Explained by Breadth of Gene Families Involved
Comparative genomics involving humongous fungus helps explain evolution of Armillaria Among the contenders for the world’s largest living organism is something usually considered much smaller than a blue whale, or a towering sequoia. This particular organism is so big, one needs an aerial map to grasp its size, and even then it’s not completely visible…
Cat Adams, University of California, Berkeley
“If we can assemble genomes, we can learn some of these strategies to reduce bias.” I study the role of secondary metabolites, especially defensive chemistry and how they influence plant-fungal interactions. For my Ph.D., I’m studying a mushroom called Amanita phalloides, the death cap mushroom. It’s native to Europe but it was brought overseas…
JGI’s Klatu Chills at the North American Freezer Challenge
Freezer Preventive Monitoring Program A Model of Berkeley Lab Energy Efficiency Efforts It’s a common scene in popular culture, and it likely plays out in your own home: someone looking for a snack holds the refrigerator door open so long that eventually someone else complains that its cold enough for penguins to migrate from the…
Tracking the Viral Parasites of Giant Viruses over Time
Virophage database doubles with discovery in freshwater lakes datasets. In freshwater lakes, microbes regulate the flow of carbon and determine if the bodies of water serve as carbon sinks or carbon sources. Algae and cyanobacteria in particular can trap and use carbon, but their capacity to do so may be impacted by viruses. Viruses exist…
Liverwort Genes and Land Plant Evolution
Genome analysis of early plant lineage sheds light on how plants learned to thrive on land. Though it’s found around the world, it’s easy to overlook the common liverwort – the plant can fit in the palm of one’s hand and appears to be comprised of flat, overlapping leaves. Despite their unprepossessing appearance, these plants…
A Technique for Targeted Improvement
Establishing a genome-wide map of bacterial genes crucial for colonization of plants by beneficial microbes The Science Working with the plant growth-promoting bacterium Pseudomonas simiae, researchers have identified 115 genes that negatively affect its ability to colonize a plant root system when mutated. The Impact A plant’s health and development is influenced by the complex…