A tool to help microbial ecologists link phages to hosts in ecological studies. The Science: Using metagenomic datasets produced from the Iron Mountain site in Northern California and customized tools, researchers used bacterial spacer sequences commonly called CRISPRs to link phage and hosts in ecological studies. The Impact: Interactions between uncultivated microbes and their phage…
Erika Lindquist: Reflections of a Berkeley Lab Veteran
In observance of Veterans Day 2015, Erika Lindquist, our Sequencing QA/QC Group Lead who served in Iraq as a member of the California Army National Guard, appeared in a video produced by Berkeley Lab. She spoke about her deployment to Iraq, and most importantly, the lessons she has applied to life after military service. Watch Erika’s video at…
Building Off Known Genomes to Advance Systems and Ecosystems Biology
2016 Community Science Program proposals build upon DOE JGI-generated reference genomes. The U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI), a DOE Office of Science User Facility, has announced that 27 new projects have been selected for the 2016 Community Science Program (CSP). “These new CSP projects, selected through our external review process, exploit…
A Single-Cell Pipeline for Soil Samples
Scientists evaluate a process that uses NanoSIMS and Raman microspectroscopy for in situ microbial studies. The Science: To investigate in situ function of uncultivated microbes, scientists evaluated a process for preparing soil samples for single-cell analysis methods. The Impact: The process allows researchers to efficiently analyze microbial activities at the single-cell level in soil systems,…
Studying Drought Tolerance in Sorghum
In the midst of a historic drought, the U.S. Department of Energy is funding a $12.3 million project in California to examine how environmental factors influence heritable changes in gene expression in one particular crop. The Epigenetic Control of Drought Response in Sorghum, or EPICON, focuses on understanding how sorghum, a grass related to corn,…
Expanding Barley Genetics Resources
Genomic regions containing two-thirds of all annotated barley genes have been sequenced. The Science: Researchers generated nearly 16,000 sequences of gene-containing regions for barley, mapping approximately two-thirds of all annotated barley genes. The Impact: While researchers continue to work on a complete reference sequence for the barley genome, the determination of improved sequence assemblies for…
Diversity & Inclusion Socials: Fostering Workplace Culture Change over Coffee and Conversation
To encourage employee interactions among DOE JGI staff–who reside in three different buildings— the Diversity & Inclusion Working Group launched the first monthly Coffee Social in August, 2015. The events are organized by the Working Group, but different groups within the DOE JGI take on the hosting duties at each gathering over the course of the year. These…
Seeking “Gold Standard” Wastewater Treatments
Metagenomic analyses lend insights into how microbes break down wastewater contaminants. The Science: Researchers conducted analyses of microbial communities in laboratory-scale bioreactors breaking down contaminated wastewater from gold ore processing. The Impact: In this “first application of genome-resolved metagenomics” to characterize bioreactors involved in gold ore processing, the data reveal how the bioreactors utilize available…
Sullivan on VirSorter in WIRED
Sequencing all the DNA in a sample is pretty straightforward—except then you have to sort out the DNA. “It’s almost like you took hundreds of different puzzles and threw all the pieces together,” says Tanja Woyke, a microbiologist at the DOE Joint Genome Institute and project contributor. “Now you have to put those puzzles together and figure…
DOE JGI Interns Share Their Summer Experiences
In 2015, the JGI hosted 10 interns who spent the summer crunching genomic data at a computer, working at the lab bench, and even spending time out in the field.