The deep subsurface biome is dominated by unicellular microbes and comprises a major fraction of the global living carbon mass on Earth. Results from studies conducted over the past 20 years suggest that the deep subsurface biosphere differs from the surface photosphere, resulting in the perception that subsurface microbes have the streamlined genomes of specialists…
DOE JGI Plant Flagship Gene Atlas
The DOE JGI sequenced the model alga C. reinhardtii, soybean (G. max), the moss P. patens, the poplar tree (P. trichocarpa), and foxtail millet (Setaria italica) to create a platform for DOE plant science research. These plants are among those that have been designated as DOE JGI Plant Flagship Genomes. As part of the Flagship…
Protein Modeling for Biofuel Production and Carbon Cycle Studies
Novel strategies are needed in order to resolve the challenges we currently face in energy production and global carbon cycling. On the forefront of possible routes to address these challenges is the application of biotechnology to engineer systems for the production of fuels, materials, and the conversion of carbon dioxide into high value products. Current…
Plant-bacteria symbiosis for nitrogen fixation
Plants in the legume family form symbioses with nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria or rhizobia that provide a sustainable nitrogen source to improve soil fertility in agricultural settings. Symbiotic nitrogen fixation is central to any plan for energy-sustainable production of food or fuel. Crop plants for food, oil, and green manure are able to produce high-protein seeds…
Biogas-producing microbial communities
Biogas is regarded as a clean and renewable energy source and can be produced from a variety of organic feedstocks and livestock manures. In Germany, thousands of biogas plants are producing close to 20 TWh of electricity annually. The process of fermenting biogas from organic material involves multiple microbial interactions. This project focuses on learning…
Fungal biodiversity of Polyporales
Polyporales represents a species-rich but still poorly studied order of fungi. Many of the species comprise the major group of wood decayers in temperate and tropical forests. Polyporales fungi include brown rot and white rot species that can be selectively exploited for their ability to degrade cellulose, hemicellulose and/or lignin in woody substrates. For example,…
Studying fungal-algal symbiosis
Understanding the Rhizidium-Bracteacoccus symbiosis is likely to reveal algal genes, and novel algal culture methods, that can be targeted to increase biomass production for biofuel applications. Rhizidium phycophilum is a terrestrial chytrid isolated from soil originating from an Antarctic beech forest in New South Wales, Australia. Originally isolated from pollen and chitin, R. phycophilum can…
Soil studies of Amazon deforestation
The Amazon rainforest is the world’s largest and biologically richest rainforest, and it plays an essential role in global ecological processes, sequestering more carbon than any other ecosystem on Earth. The deforestation of the rainforest and its conversion into agricultural lands results in an estimated annual loss of 1.6 Petagrams C (1.6 billion kg) of…
Fungal genome to help remove biofuels production bottleneck
A major, recognized roadblock in conversion of biomass to fuels and chemicals is the presence of inhibitory compounds which render the sugar streams unusable. These inhibitors are commonly present in lignocellulosic biomass that has been subjected to physical and chemical pretreatment for release of sugars. The fungus Coniochaeta ligniaria has been shown to be tolerant…
The Mycorrhizal Genomics Initiative
Forests depend on tree-microbial associations above and below ground. Understanding molecular mechanisms of associations between trees and fungi in forests requires a novel, community-driven, multi-disciplinary approach based on genomics and ecological data and tools. This project focuses on a set of mycorrhizal fungal species able to form several types of plant-fungus symbioses and selected for…