The relationships between plants and the microbes in the surrounding soil influences nutrient uptake, disease resistance and stress tolerance. Essentially all land plants grow in intimate association with complex microbial communities both above the ground (phyllosphere) and below the ground on roots and the immediately surrounding area (rhizosphere) and deep inside root intercellular spaces (endophytes)….
Fungal plant pathogens and energy feedstocks
The fungal genus Colletotrichum is one of the most common and destructive groups of plant pathogenic fungi, causing disease on plants from nearly every crop and natural ecosystem worldwide. Fourteen species are known pathogens of grasses and cereals, including several candidate bioenergy feedstocks. The impact of Colletotrichum on next-generation bioenergy feedstock production and yield could…
Microbes in Antarctica’s Dry Valley
The Antarctic Dry Valley system represents one of the harshest and most extreme environments inhabited by microorganisms on Earth. The soils of these valleys contain microbes that must cope with cold temperatures, poor water and nutrient availability, high salinities, exposure to high doses of ultraviolet radiation, and lack of sunlight during polar winters. Such an…
Boosting biomass of perennial grasses
Switchgrass and prairie cordgrass are candidate bioenergy feedstocks while Brachypodium distachyon is a model grass being used to study related candidate bioenergy feedstocks that was sequenced at the DOE JGI. All three plants have relationships with fungi that lead to benefits such as increased biomass and stress resistance. By studying the transcriptome –the tiny fraction…
Green foxtail as a model C4 grass
Setaria viridis is the wild progenitor of S. italica, more commonly known as foxtail millet. Green foxtail is related to other grasses that have been considered candidate bioenergy feedstocks such switchgrass, Miscanthus and sorghum. Both green foxtail and foxtail millet have been sequenced by the DOE JGI, and this project focuses on understanding and promoting…
Mediterranean Grassland Soil Metagenome
Mediterranean ecosystems and grasslands are considered among the most vulnerable to biodiversity loss due to global environmental change. For the Mediterranean grasslands of California, climate models have predicted decreasing precipitation combined with elevated temperatures. The result could lead to accelerated decomposition and mineralization of soil organic matter in the rhizosphere, that area where the soil…
Metagenomic IFRC study for bioremediation
The Department of Energy Integrated Field Research Challenge (IFRC) site at Rifle, Colorado is a widely-used bioremediation research site. Using the resident microbes to help bioremediate an area is an important, potentially cost-effective environmental cleanup strategy. This project involves the application of massive sequencing to several subsurface samples to be collected from across the (unstimulated)…
Understanding a lichen microecosystem
Lobaria pulmonaria is a lichen found in the northern hemisphere that contributes locally to carbon cycling at an ecosystem level. Lichens themselves are microecosystems composed of fungi, unicellular green algae and cyanobacteria while also hosting other organisms. These associations involve coordinating and reshaping the growth of very different species – from two – sometimes three…
“Deep MalaspinOmics” and the Dark Ocean
Located 200 meters underwater, the dark ocean does not receive enough light to support photosynthesis. In the oceans, the photosynthesis takes place in the top layer where the sunlight penetrates. Microbes that live in deeper waters known informally as the “twilight zone” use a significant portion of the carbon produced in the waters where photosynthesis…
Algae and the Carbon Cycle in the North Sea
Marine algae conduct about half of the global carbon dioxide fixation, impacting organic net primary production. The role of bacteria in this process is as yet only poorly understood but of interest to a broad scientific community. The COGITO (Coastal Microbe Genomic & Taxonomic Observatory) project is an integrative marine microbiology ecosystems study that is…