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    ear the town of Rifle, Colorado, lies the primary field site for Phase I of the Subsurface Systems Scientific Focus Area 2.0 (SFA 2.0, sponsored by the DOE Office of Biological and Environmental Research—BER).
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    UC Berkeley and JGI researchers joined forces and data sets to describe bacterial genomes for related (“sibling”) lineages that diverged from the bacterial tree before Cyanobacteria and its contemporaries. The information was then used to predict the metabolic strategies applied by a common ancestor to all five lineages.

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    The DOE supports research programs for developing methods for converting plant biomass into sustainable fuels for cars and jets. By studying a close relative model species like Panicum hallii, researchers can develop crop improvement techniques that could be applied to the candidate bioenergy feedstock switchgrass.

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    Jorge Rodrigues is interested in the biological causes of methane flux variation in the Amazon rainforest. (Courtesy of Jorge Rodrigues)
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    Wetlands are the single largest global source of atmospheric methane. This project aims to integrate microbial and tree genetic characteristics to measure and understand methane emissions at the heart of the Amazon rainforest.

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    The non-photosynthetic, predatory cyanobacterium Vampirovibrio chlorellavorus is a globally important obligate pathogen of Chlorella species/strains, which are of interest as biofuel feedstocks.

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    This proposal investigates the genetic bases of fungal thermophily, biomass-degradation, and fungal-bacterial interactions in Sordariales, an order of biomass-degrading fungi frequently encountered in compost and encompassing one of the few groups of thermophilic fungi.

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Home › CSP Plans › Why Sequence Agaricus bisporus?

Approved Proposals FY08

Why Sequence Agaricus bisporus?

Agaricus bisporus is a soil-growing homobasidiomycete fungus that plays an ecologically significant role in the degradation of leaf and needle litter in temperate forests. Soils contain humic compounds derived from modified lignin and other recalcitrant aromatic compounds, and represent a different catabolic challenge from the intact woody tissues colonized by many other fungi. Thus, A. bisporus forms an important model for carbon sequestration studies to understand the persistence of mycelial material in humus and to determine the role of fungi in bioconversion of plant materials to humic acids. The homobasidiomycete species is arguably the most well studied member of the family Agaricaceae, a large, diverse and economically important group of fungi. Comprehending the carbon cycling role of the Agaricaceae in forests and other ecosystems is a prerequisite to modeling and optimizing carbon management.

Agaricus bisporus, conifer forest soil, Moss Beach, CA. Photo courtesy R.W. Kerrigan.

Agaricus bisporus, conifer forest soil, Moss Beach, CA. Photo courtesy R.W. Kerrigan.

Agaricus genome sequence will provide new opportunities to compare the role of a secondary decomposer in various environmental and developmental fungal processes with other basidiomycetes and ascomycetes. Comparisons with the sequenced Polyporales (Postia placenta –brown rot, and Phanerochaete chrysosporium–white rot) and the mycorrhizal basidiomycetes will provide insight into transitions between different ecological modes (e.g. decomposer, mycorrhizal, white- and brown-rot fungi).

As a leaf-litter degrader, A. bisporus grows very well in lignocellulosic composts and is able to degrade lignin, but the enzyme system it uses for lignin degradation is not fully characterized. Sequencing A. bisporus will improve our knowledge of the mechanisms it uses for efficient conversion of lignocellulose and provide information to underpin development of effective biofuel strategies.

Fortunately, as the premier cultivated mushroom species, a substantial scientific knowledge base exists for A. bisporus, which forms a solid foundation from which to launch comparative analyses of basidiomycota genome sequences. Physiology, metabolism, and development have all been investigated at the molecular level. Significantly, several Agaricus species have potential for bioremediation of substrates contaminated with heavy metals, and these decomposer fungi are more able to hyperaccumulate toxic metals than some mycorrhizal fungi. Full potential of this area will require more extensive research, and all these areas would be expedited by the availability of genome sequence.

Principal Investigator: Mike Challen (Univ. of Warwick)

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