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Methylmercury-producing bacterium in Shorelines

A newly decoded bacterial genome brings scientists one step closer to unlocking the secret behind the production of methylmercury, the chemical notorious for contaminating tuna and other seafood. Most mercury pollution comes from the burning of fossil fuels. Once in the atmosphere, it seeps into the rain and gradually trickles down to the sea. Certain… [Read More]

Methylmercury-producing bacterium in Smithsonian Science

The new genome, sequenced at the California-based DOE Joint Genome Institute, and completed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was published in the Journal of Bacteriology. It lays the foundation for future research to examine the little understood mechanisms behind the production of methylmercury. “We know a little about the bacteria that produce methylmercury but we… [Read More]

Arabidopsis lyrata genome project in GenomeWeb

The international research team, led by investigators at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, compared the newly sequenced genome to the much smaller genome of the model organism A. thaliana. Their findings suggest that the pared down version of the genome found in A. thaliana reflects a spate of small deletions — many affecting… [Read More]

Brown mercury-producing bacterium in Medical News Today

“What is not known are the genes or the proteins that allow these bacteria to mediate the transformation,” said ORNL’s Steven Brown, who led a research team to sequence the genome of a bacterium in the Desulfovibrio genus that is capable of methylating mercury. The new genome, sequenced at the California-based DOE Joint Genome Institute… [Read More]

Brown mercury-producing bacterium in ScienceDaily

Desulfovibrio desulfuricans strain ND132 is an organism that thrives in sediments and soils without oxygen — the places in lakes, streams and wetlands where mercury contamination is converted to methylmercury. It is representative of a group of organisms that “breathe” sulfate instead of oxygen and are largely responsible for mercury methylation in nature. “This is… [Read More]

Cheryl Kerfeld presents ASBMB award lecture

Cheryl A. Kerfeld, a structural biologist and the head of the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute’s Education and Structural Genomics Programs, has won the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’s Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education. Kerfeld will present her award lecture, titled “Sequence and Consequence,” at 12:30 p.m. on April 10… [Read More]

DOE JGI’s Cheryl Kerfeld among 2011 ASBMB awardees in Washington DC

Cheryl A. Kerfeld, a structural biologist and the head of the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute’s Education and Structural Genomics Program, won the ASBMB Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education. Kerfeld, who also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley, was named the winner for encouraging effective teaching and learning… [Read More]

Fungal Genomics blog re DOE JGI User Meeting

Personally, my favorite talk at the last 6th Annual DOE JGI Users Meeting at Walnut Creek was Rob Knight‘s contribution on ‘Spatially and Temporally Resolved Studies of the Human Microbiome‘. Rob was creative and integrative. Displaying the biogeography of bacterial communities on the human body using UniFrac and QUIME was astounding. Read more at the… [Read More]

Eisen blogs Twitter wrap-up of the DOE JGI User Meeting

Off to another meeting so don’t have time to write up details of the JGI User Meeting that just ended.  But I am posting my tweets and some related tweets here.  Also, apparently videos of the talks will be available soon. Will try to clean up the style of the posts ASAP but on the… [Read More]