DOE Joint Genome Institute

  • COVID-19
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Our Science
    • DOE Mission Areas
    • Bioenergy Research Centers
    • Science Programs
    • Science Highlights
    • Scientists
    Data yielded from RIViT-seq increased the number of sigma factor-gene pairs confirmed in Streptomyces coelicolor from 209 to 399. Here, grey arrows denote previously known regulation and red arrows are regulation identified by RIViT-seq; orange nodes mark sigma factors while gray nodes mark other genes. (Otani, H., Mouncey, N.J. Nat Commun 13, 3502 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31191-w)
    Streamlining Regulon Identification in Bacteria
    Regulons are a group of genes that can be turned on or off by the same regulatory protein. RIViT-seq technology could speed up associating transcription factors with their target genes.

    More

    (PXFuel)
    Designer DNA: JGI Helps Users Blaze New Biosynthetic Pathways
    In a special issue of the journal Synthetic Biology, JGI scientific users share how they’ve worked with the JGI DNA Synthesis Science Program and what they’ve discovered through their collaborations.

    More

    A genetic element that generates targeted mutations, called diversity-generating retroelements (DGRs), are found in viruses, as well as bacteria and archaea. Most DGRs found in viruses appear to be in their tail fibers. These tail fibers – signified in the cartoon by the blue virus’ downward pointing ‘arms’— allow the virus to attach to one cell type (red), but not the other (purple). DGRs mutate these ‘arms,’ giving the virus opportunities to switch to different prey, like the purple cell. (Courtesy of Blair Paul)
    A Natural Mechanism Can Turbocharge Viral Evolution
    A team has discovered that diversity generating retroelements (DGRs) are not only widespread, but also surprisingly active. In viruses, DGRs appear to generate diversity quickly, allowing these viruses to target new microbial prey.

    More

  • Our Projects
    • Search JGI Projects
    • DOE Metrics/Statistics
    • Approved User Proposals
    • Legacy Projects
    Photograph of a stream of diatoms beneath Arctic sea ice.
    Polar Phytoplankton Need Zinc to Cope with the Cold
    As part of a long-term collaboration with the JGI Algal Program, researchers studying function and activity of phytoplankton genes in polar waters have found that these algae rely on dissolved zinc to photosynthesize.

    More

    This data image shows the monthly average sea surface temperature for May 2015. Between 2013 and 2016, a large mass of unusually warm ocean water--nicknamed the blob--dominated the North Pacific, indicated here by red, pink, and yellow colors signifying temperatures as much as three degrees Celsius (five degrees Fahrenheit) higher than average. Data are from the NASA Multi-scale Ultra-high Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (MUR SST) Analysis product. (Courtesy NASA Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center)
    When “The Blob” Made It Hotter Under the Water
    Researchers tracked the impact of a large-scale heatwave event in the ocean known as “The Blob” as part of an approved proposal through the Community Science Program.

    More

    A plantation of poplar trees. (David Gilbert)
    Genome Insider podcast: THE Bioenergy Tree
    The US Department of Energy’s favorite tree is poplar. In this episode, hear from ORNL scientists who have uncovered remarkable genetic secrets that bring us closer to making poplar an economical and sustainable source of energy and materials.

    More

  • Data & Tools
    • IMG
    • Data Portal
    • MycoCosm
    • PhycoCosm
    • Phytozome
    • GOLD
    HPCwire Editor's Choice Award (logo crop) for Best Use of HPC in the Life Sciences
    JGI Part of Berkeley Lab Team Awarded Best Use of HPC in Life Sciences
    The HPCwire Editors Choice Award for Best Use of HPC in Life Sciences went to the Berkeley Lab team comprised of JGI and ExaBiome Project team, supported by the DOE Exascale Computing Project for MetaHipMer, an end-to-end genome assembler that supports “an unprecedented assembly of environmental microbiomes.”

    More

    With a common set of "baseline metadata," JGI users can more easily access public data sets. (Steve Wilson)
    A User-Centered Approach to Accessing JGI Data
    Reflecting a structural shift in data access, the JGI Data Portal offers a way for users to more easily access public data sets through a common set of metadata.

    More

    Phytozome portal collage
    A More Intuitive Phytozome Interface
    Phytozome v13 now hosts upwards of 250 plant genomes and provides users with the genome browsers, gene pages, search, BLAST and BioMart data warehouse interfaces they have come to rely on, with a more intuitive interface.

    More

  • User Programs
    • Calls for Proposals
    • Special Initiatives & Programs
    • Product Offerings
    • User Support
    • Policies
    • Submit a Proposal
    screencap from Amundson and Wilkins subsurface microbiome video
    Digging into Microbial Ecosystems Deep Underground
    JGI users and microbiome researchers at Colorado State University have many questions about the microbial communities deep underground, including the role viral infection may play in other natural ecosystems.

    Read more

    Yeast strains engineered for the biochemical conversion of glucose to value-added products are limited in chemical output due to growth and viability constraints. Cell extracts provide an alternative format for chemical synthesis in the absence of cell growth by isolating the soluble components of lysed cells. By separating the production of enzymes (during growth) and the biochemical production process (in cell-free reactions), this framework enables biosynthesis of diverse chemical products at volumetric productivities greater than the source strains. (Blake Rasor)
    Boosting Small Molecule Production in Super “Soup”
    Researchers supported through the Emerging Technologies Opportunity Program describe a two-pronged approach that starts with engineered yeast cells but then moves out of the cell structure into a cell-free system.

    More

    These bright green spots are fluorescently labelled bacteria from soil collected from the surface of plant roots. For reference, the scale bar at bottom right is 10 micrometers long. (Rhona Stuart)
    A Powerful Technique to Study Microbes, Now Easier
    In JGI's Genome Insider podcast: LLNL biologist Jennifer Pett-Ridge collaborated with JGI scientists through the Emerging Technologies Opportunity Program to semi-automate experiments that measure microbial activity in soil.

    More

  • News & Publications
    • News
    • Blog
    • Podcasts
    • Webinars
    • Publications
    • Newsletter
    • Logos and Templates
    • Photos
    A view of the mangroves from which the giant bacteria were sampled in Guadeloupe. (Hugo Bret)
    Giant Bacteria Found in Guadeloupe Mangroves Challenge Traditional Concepts
    Harnessing JGI and Berkeley Lab resources, researchers characterized a giant - 5,000 times bigger than most bacteria - filamentous bacterium discovered in the Caribbean mangroves.

    More

    In their approved proposal, Frederick Colwell of Oregon State University and colleagues are interested in the microbial communities that live on Alaska’s glacially dominated Copper River Delta. They’re looking at how the microbes in these high latitude wetlands, such as the Copper River Delta wetland pond shown here, cycle carbon. (Courtesy of Rick Colwell)
    Monitoring Inter-Organism Interactions Within Ecosystems
    Many of the proposals approved through JGI's annual Community Science Program call focus on harnessing genomics to developing sustainable resources for biofuels and bioproducts.

    More

    Coloring the water, the algae Phaeocystis blooms off the side of the sampling vessel, Polarstern, in the temperate region of the North Atlantic. (Katrin Schmidt)
    Climate Change Threatens Base of Polar Oceans’ Bountiful Food Webs
    As warm-adapted microbes edge polewards, they’d oust resident tiny algae. It's a trend that threatens to destabilize the delicate marine food web and change the oceans as we know them.

    More

Our Science
Home › Science Highlights › The fungus that made itself at home

January 8, 2018

The fungus that made itself at home

Retracing how the dry rot Serpula lacrymans adapted to a new ecological habitat.

The Science

Serpula lacrymans var. lacrymans, an aggressive decomposer of the built environment, attacking this dresser. (Inger Skrede)

Shown attacking this dresser: the dry rot Serpula lacrymans var. lacrymans, an aggressive decomposer of the built environment. (Inger Skrede)

By comparing genetic information from similar organisms, researchers have gained insights on why the dry rot (Serpula lacrymans) is so destructive in houses. A study involving six brown rot fungi reveals the genomic changes Serpula lacrymans has undergone in adapting to manmade environments.

The Impact

Due to its aggressive capacity to damage the wood in homes, bioenergy researchers have been interested in harnessing the brown rot Serpula lacrymans towards breaking down plant mass for conversion to sustainable, alternative biofuels and bioproducts. This study lends insights on how the fungus has responded to manmade changes in its ecological habitat, adapting to thrive in built environments.

Summary

Unlike white rots, brown rots break down only the cellulose and hemicellulose, leaving the lignin behind. The brown rot Serpula lacrymans is typically found in spruce and other conifers in boreal forests. As these trees were harvested for constructing buildings, the dry rot fungus migrated indoors and across borders, adapting to thrive in manmade environments. As reported January 5, 2018 in The ISME Journal, a team led by University of Oslo scientists and including researchers at the Joint Genome Institute, a DOE Office of Science User Facility, compared the genomes of two strains of fungi Serpula lacrymans – var. lacrymans from Europe and var. shastensis from North America – against a third fungal Serpula species, S. himantioides from Europe, that was sequenced and analyzed by the JGI. The researchers found that S. lacrymans var. lacrymans has become an ecological specialist, adapted to its indoor home, and in doing so has lost its ability to harness other woody substrates other brown rots could access. While S. lacrymans var. shastensis has a similar genome, the team suggests that it has not adapted like the other strain because its local environment has been less impacted by human encroachment.

S. lacrymans var. shastensis decomposing a large Shasta red fir (Abies magnifica var. shastenis) in its natural habitat in Mt Shasta, California. (Håvard Kauserud)

The team also did head-to-head, or confrontation experiments, involving these three Serpula fungi against three other brown rot fungi to see how the Serpula fungi have adapted in an environment with little to no competitors for resources. On wood blocks of pine, fir, and spruce, they grew a Serpula species and a non-Serpula brown rot. The researchers found that both varieties of S. lacrymans were less aggressive at colonizing the wood blocks compared to the other brown rots, though S. lacrymans var. lacrymans decomposed more spruce than the other brown rot fungi. Additionally, S. himantioides outcompeted all the brown rots it was paired with, aggressively colonizing more of the wood blocks than its partner brown rots.

The team’s results reflect the evolutionary gains and losses of S. lacrymans var. lacrymans in becoming a threat to homeowners. The brown rot has adapted to thrive on the limited nutrients found in wood inside homes, and in an environment that offers limited interactions with wild relatives.

BER Contact

Daniel Drell, Ph.D.
Program Manager
Biological Systems Sciences Division
Office of Biological and Environmental Research
Office of Science
US Department of Energy
daniel.drell@science.doe.gov

PI Contacts

Igor Grigoriev
Fungal Program Head
DOE Joint Genome Institute
ivgrigoriev@lbl.gov

Inger Skrede
University of Oslo
inger.skrede@ibv.uio.no

Funding

This research was supported by the University of Oslo and Norwegian Research Council, the Swedish Agricultural Sciences and FORMAS, and the UK Natural Environment Research Council. The work conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

Publication

  • Balasundram SV et al. The fungus that came in from the cold: dry rot’s pre-adapted ability to invade buildings. ISME J. 2018 Jan 5. doi:10.1038/s41396-017-0006-8.

Related Links

  • JGI News Release: Breaking down cellulose without blasting lignin: “Dry rot” genome offers lessons for biofuel pretreatment
  • Serpula lacrymans on MycoCosm
  • Serpula himantioides on MycoCosm

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: Science Highlights

More topics:

  • COVID-19 Status
  • News
  • Science Highlights
  • Blog
  • Webinars
  • CSP Plans
  • Featured Profiles

Related Content:

Soil virus offers insight into maintaining microorganisms

Silver age of GOLD introduces new features

Abstract image of gold lights and squares against a black backdrop

Virus Discoveries that Keep Getting Bigger

And illustration of a giant virus in purple and blue tones.

Model fern reveals insight into DNA thievery in ferns

A green fern against a black backdrop

Understanding Wildfire Recovery, Starting in Soil

A photograph of the forest floor, covered in pine needles, with burned trees in the background.

Extracting the Secrets of Secondary Metabolites

A graphic flowchart showing how CRAGE and CRISPR work together
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • User Meeting
  • MGM Workshops
  • Internal
  • Disclaimer
  • Credits
  • Policies
  • Emergency Info
  • Accessibility / Section 508 Statement
  • Flickr
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Biosciences Area
A project of the US Department of Energy, Office of Science

JGI is a DOE Office of Science User Facility managed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

© 1997-2023 The Regents of the University of California