The Earth is estimated to have about a nonillion (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) microbes in, on, around, and under it, comprised of an unknown but very large number of distinct species. Despite the widespread availability of microbial genome data—close to 2,000 microbes have been and are being decoded to date—a vast unknown realm awaits scientists intent on exploring… [Read More]

Think of phylogenetic diversity as all of the separate branches growing from the main “trunk” of the Tree of Life.  “Most of these separate branches within the bacteria and archaea have not yet been sampled in regard to genome sequencing” said Eisen. To expand the genomic sampling of bacterial and microbial diversity, Eisen and others… [Read More]

Genome scientists from the U.S. and Germany have assembled the first pages of a comprehensive encyclopedia of genomes of all the microbes on Earth. The results, published Dec. 24 in the journal Nature, will help biologists find new genes and fill out the branches of the “Tree of Life.”…. The project was funded primarily by… [Read More]

The genomes of only about 1,000 species of microbes have been sequenced. That leaves 99.99999 percent to go. Making matters worse, the genomes scientists have sequenced so far are clustered together in groups of closely related species, leaving vast stretches of the microbial tree of life virtually unexplored. It would be as if all we… [Read More]

Researchers involved in the Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea project reported on the first 56 microbial genomes to be sequenced and analyzed through that effort in Nature online today. More details in GenomeWeb‘s Daily News roundup. [Read More]

The Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) has published the initial “volume” of the Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea (GEBA). Presenting a provocative glimpse into this uncharted territory, an analysis of the first 56 genomes representing two of the three domains of the tree of life appears in the December 24 edition… [Read More]