Transposable elements in a genome could make plant pathogens more flexible with their hosts. The Science: Researchers examined a correlation between fungal plant pathogens and the abundance of transposable elements in their genomes. They looked at the mechanisms of transposable elements in symbionts that are similar to those in pathogens. The Impact: Fungal plant pathogens may…
Gene expression analyses of Populus crosses
Populus is one of DOE JGI’s Flagship Plant Genome species and is of special interest as a biofuels feedstock. It was selected as the model forest species for genome sequencing due to its modest genome size, rapid growth, relative ease of experimental manipulation and range of available genetic tools. As such, Populus trichocarpa was the…
Carbon studies in Northern California
The global terrestrial carbon reservoir is primarily distributed among grasslands, forests and cultivated farms. While the majority of fixed carbon is stored in vegetation in forests, most fixed carbon in grasslands is stored in soil. Thus, it is critical to understand the carbon cycling in grassland soil. One challenge climate researchers face is making accurate…
A Decade of Improvements on the Reference Green Alga Genome
Since the generation of the first draft sequence, DOE JGI researchers have been improving a key algal genome. The Science: The high-quality genome sequence of the tiny single-celled alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has proved useful for researchers studying photosynthesis and cell motility. The Impact: In the decade since researchers initiated plans to sequence and now annotate…
In Memoriam: Falk Warnecke
Falk Warnecke was a postdoctoral fellow at the DOE JGI’s Microbial Ecology Program from March 2005 until June 2009. Among the publications that resulted from his work here, he was first author on the termite hindgut metagenome paper that appeared in Nature. Warnecke died on July 15, 2014 at the age of 42. Within a…
A Tale of Two Plant Improvement Strategies
Researchers highlight the advantages of promoting beneficial plant-microbe relationships. The Science: The usual response to plant stressors such as low nutrient availability and disease has been to breed or develop cultivars that are tolerant or resistant to these concerns. In recent years, researchers have been paying more attention to the interactions between plants and microbial…
Dyeing to Learn More About Marine Viruses
Tagging strategy allows for population surveys The sheer volume of cyanobacteria in the oceans makes them major players in the global carbon cycle and responsible for as much as a third of the carbon fixed. These photosynthetic microbes, which include Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus, are tiny – as many as 100 million cells can be found…
Soil microbiomes can set plant flowering time
Scientists study particular response to environment and its effect upon phenotype. The Science: Scientists grew Boechera stricta plants in soil inoculated with microbes from natural B. stricta habitats to study the flowering time phenotype. The Impact: The technique researchers employed to isolate soil microbes to study their effect on a single plant phenotype can potentially…
Treading into a Gray Area Along the Spectrum of Wood Decay Fungi
One of the most basic rules for playing the game “Twenty Questions” is that all of the questions must be definitively answered by either “yes” or “no.” The exchange of information allows the players to correctly guess the item in question. Fungal researchers have been using a variation of Twenty Questions to determine if wood-decaying…
Detecting evidence of selection
Genome-wide scan of maize population finds genes affected by long-term artificial selection. The Science: Researchers conducted a genome-wide scan of a long-term maize breeding study to find the genes involved in increasing the number of ears per maize plant. The Impact: The study demonstrates how significantly reduced costs associated with sequencing and the ability to…