DOE Joint Genome Institute

  • COVID-19
  • About
  • Phones
  • Contacts
  • Our Science
    • DOE Mission Areas
    • Bioenergy Research Centers
    • Science Programs
    • Products
    • Science Highlights
    • Scientists
    Screencap of green algae video for PNAS paper
    Green Algae Reveal One mRNA Encodes Many Proteins
    A team of researchers has found numerous examples of polycistronic expression – in which two or more genes are encoded on a single molecule of mRNA – in two species of green algae.

    Read more

    Advances in Rapidly Engineering Non-model Bacteria
    CRAGE is a technique for chassis (or strain)-independent recombinase-assisted genome engineering, allowing scientists to conduct genome-wide screens and explore biosynthetic pathways. Now, CRAGE is being applied to other synthetic biology problems.

    Read more

    Maize can produce a cocktail of antibiotics with a handful of enzymes. (Sam Fentress, CC BY-SA 2.0)
    How Maize Makes An Antibiotic Cocktail
    Zealexins are produced in every corn variety and protect maize by fending off fungal and microbial infections using surprisingly few enzymes.

    More

  • Our Projects
    • Search JGI Projects
    • DOE Metrics/Statistics
    • Approved User Proposals
    • Legacy Projects
    Poplar (Populus trichocarpa and P. deltoides) grow in the Advanced Plant Phenotyping Laboratory (APPL) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Poplar is an important biofuel feedstock, and Populus trichocarpa is the first tree species to have its genome sequenced — a feat accomplished by JGI. (Image courtesy of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy)
    Podcast: Xiaohan Yang on A Plantiful Future
    Building off plant genomics collaborations between the JGI and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Xiaohan Yang envisions customizing plants for the benefit of human society.

    More:

    Expansin complex with cell wall in background. (Courtesy of Daniel Cosgrove)
    Synthesizing Microbial Expansins with Unusual Activities
    Expansin proteins from diverse microbes have potential uses in deconstructing lignocellulosic biomass for conversion to renewable biofuels, nanocellulosic fibers, and commodity biochemicals.

    Read more

    High oleic pennycress. (Courtesy of Ratan Chopra)
    Pennycress – A Solution for Global Food Security, Renewable Energy and Ecosystem Benefits
    Pennycress (Thlaspi arvense) is under development as a winter annual oilseed bioenergy crop. It could produce up to 3 billion gallons of seed oil annually while reducing soil erosion and fertilizer runoff.

    Read more

  • Data & Tools
    • IMG
    • Genome Portal
    • MycoCosm
    • PhycoCosm
    • Phytozome
    • GOLD
    Artistic interpretation of CheckV assessing virus genome sequences from environmental samples. (Rendered by Zosia Rostomian​, Berkeley Lab)
    An Automated Tool for Assessing Virus Data Quality
    CheckV can be broadly utilized by the research community to gauge virus data quality and will help researchers to follow best practices and guidelines for providing the minimum amount of information for an uncultivated virus genome.

    More

    Unicellular algae in the Chlorella genus, magnified 1300x. (Andrei Savitsky)
    A One-Stop Shop for Analyzing Algal Genomes
    The PhycoCosm data portal is an interactive browser that allows algal scientists and enthusiasts to look deep into more than 100 algal genomes, compare them, and visualize supporting experimental data.

    More

    Artistic interpretation of how microbial genome sequences from the GEM catalog can help fill in gaps of knowledge about the microbes that play key roles in the Earth's microbiomes. (Rendered by Zosia Rostomian​, Berkeley Lab)
    Podcast: A Primer on Genome Mining
    In Natural Prodcast: the basics of genome mining, and how JGI researchers conducted it in IMG/ABC on thousands of metagenome-derived genomes for a Nature Biotechnology paper.

    Read more

  • User Programs
    • Calls for User Proposals
    • Special Initiatives & Programs
    • User Support
    • Submit a Proposal
    screencap long reads webinar_ Metagenome Program
    Utilizing long-read sequencing for metagenomics and DNA modification detection webinar
    Watch the webinar on how the JGI employs single-molecule, long-read DNA sequences to aid with genome assembly and transcriptome analysis of microbial, fungal, and plant research projects.

    More

    SIP engagement webinar
    “SIP technologies at EMSL and JGI” Webinar
    The concerted stable isotope-related tools and resources of the JGI and the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) may be requested by applying for the annual “Facilities Integrating Collaborations for User Science” (FICUS) call.

    Read more

    martin-adams-unsplash
    CSP Functional Genomics Call Ongoing
    The CSP Functional Genomics call helps users translate genomic information into biological function. Proposals submitted by July 31, 2021 will be part of the next review.

    Read more

  • News & Publications
    • News
    • Blog
    • Podcasts
    • Webinars
    • Publications
    • Newsletter
    • Logos and Templates
    • Photos
    Aerial photo of the switchgrass diversity panel late in the 2020 season at the Kellogg Biological Station in Michigan. (Robert Goodwin)
    A Team Effort Toward Targeted Crop Improvements
    A multi-institutional team has produced a high-quality reference sequence of the complex switchgrass genome. Building off this work, researchers at three DOE Bioenergy Research Centers have expanded the network of common gardens and are exploring improvements to switchgrass.

    More

    Artistic interpretation of how microbial genome sequences from the GEM catalog can help fill in gaps of knowledge about the microbes that play key roles in the Earth's microbiomes. (Rendered by Zosia Rostomian​, Berkeley Lab)
    Uncovering Novel Genomes from Earth’s Microbiomes
    A public repository of 52,515 microbial draft genomes generated from environmental samples around the world, expanding the known diversity of bacteria and archaea by 44%, is now available .

    More

    Green millet (Setaria viridis) plant collected in the wild. (Courtesy of the Kellogg lab)
    Shattering Expectations: Novel Seed Dispersal Gene Found in Green Millet
    In Nature Biotechnology, a very high quality reference Setaria viridis genome was sequenced, and for the first time in wild populations, a gene related to seed dispersal was identified.

    More

User Programs
Home › Featured Profiles › Tobias Erb, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology

January 31, 2018

Tobias Erb, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology

Tobias Erb, MPI Marburg (Courtesy of Tobias Erb)

How long have you collaborated with the JGI? 

We have been collaborating with JGI since 2015.

We are supported by the JGI DNA Synthesis program. The DNA Synthesis team at JGI provides us with synthetic genes, which we then test in our laboratory for their function. Our project aims at characterizing a new class of highly efficient CO2-converting biocatalysts, so called enoyl-CoA reductases/carboxylases. These enzymes convert CO2 up to 20 times faster than their CO2-converting counterparts in plants. We have used these turbo-enzymes to build a synthetic pathway for CO2 fixation, the CETCH cycle. (Click here to learn more about the CETCH collaboration reported in Science.) This artificial pathway consists of 17 different enzymes from nine different organisms and converts atmospheric carbon dioxide into glyoxylic acid in vitro. It is almost like an artificial photosynthesis in the reaction tube. Having demonstrated that we can assemble artificial pathways from scratch in vitro, our next challenge is now to transplant this artificial metabolism into living cells, which will be again supported by the JGI.

Why is this research important?

Our research is important, because it will allow us on the long run to harness atmospheric CO2 as a sustainable carbon source. Our ultimate goal is to realize a synthetic metabolism that is more efficient in converting CO2 into biomass and/or chemical building blocks than any naturally evolved process (e.g., photosynthetic CO2 fixation in plants, algae and bacteria).

What do you value about JGI’s contributions?

Click here to watch Tobi Erb's keynote from the 2017 JGI Genomics of Energy & Environment Meeting

Click here to watch Tobi Erb’s keynote from the 2017 JGI Genomics of Energy & Environment Meeting

The JGI has been crucial for our research because it has provided the scientific community with a tremendous amount of gene sequences over the last couple of years. These gene sequences have become a true treasure grove for synthetic biologists like us. We search this large DNA sequence space to identify enzymes that we can use build our artificial CO2-fixation pathways. It is very exciting to see that the JGI has launched programs that will allow us to identify and characterize the function of genes in high throughput. This will speed up the process of finding new reactions that we can make use of. At the same time the “gene to function” approach will be fundamentally important to understand the role of all these new reactions in the biosphere.

We appreciate the direct interaction between the scientists at JGI and our laboratory. There is a constant flow of ideas, which is very stimulating and drives our research forward. We hope to be able to develop and test new strategies together with the JGI scientists that allow us to harness the power of genes for synthetic biology.

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: Featured Profiles

More topics:

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

Related Content:

Kelly Wrighton, Colorado State University

Kelly Wrighton JGI value cropped screencap

Colleen Hansel, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute

Colleen Hansel, fungal collaborator at WHOI

J. Chris Pires, University of Missouri

J. Chris Pires, University of Missouri

Cat Adams, University of California, Berkeley

Cat Adams, UC Berkeley

C. Titus Brown, University of California, Davis

C. TItus Brown, UC Davis on collaborating with the JGI

Rod Wing, Arizona Genomics Institute

Rod Wing on his decade of collaborations with the JGI
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • User Meeting
  • MGM Workshops
  • Internal
  • Disclaimer
  • Credits
  • Emergency Info
  • Accessibility / Section 508 Statement
  • RSS feed
  • Flickr
  • LinkedIn
  • 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

© 1997-2021 The Regents of the University of California