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Breaking Biomass Better: DOE JGI Sequences Wood Decaying Fungus to Advance Biofuels Prospects

WALNUT CREEK, CA—One of the challenges in making cellulosic biofuels commercially viable is to cost-effectively deconstruct plant material to liberate fermentable energy-rich sugars. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is funding several projects focused on identifying enzymes in organisms that optimally degrade cellulosic feedstocks. One such source are fungi, which break down dead wood and… [Read More]

Genome Signatures Enable Tracking of Algal Complexity

WALNUT CREEK, CA—On the long and difficult road toward a carbon-neutral source of transportation fuels, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is pursuing a diversified approach.  This effort involves exploring a range of potential new fuel sources in nature: from plants that may serve as cellulosic feedstocks—fast-growing trees and perennial grasses on land—to oil-producing organisms… [Read More]

DOE JGI Produces New QC Tool for Microbial Genomes

WALNUT CREEK, CA—More than a thousand microbial genomes have been sequenced at various sequencing centers in the past 15 years to better understand their roles in tasks ranging from bioenergy to health to environmental cleanup. Conservative estimates suggest roughly 10,000 microbial genomes will be publicly available within the next two years, but genomic standards have… [Read More]

JGI & NERSC Partner for Genomic High-performance Computing

WALNUT CREEK, CA—The Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (JGI) and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) Division have joined forces to create a more robust computational infrastructure for the world’s leading generator of DNA sequence information for bioenergy and environmental applications. “We evaluated wide a variety of options,” said Vito Mangiardi, JGI’s… [Read More]

First Wild Grass Species and Model System for Energy Crops Sequenced

WALNUT CREEK, CA—As the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) works toward developing sustainable sources of clean renewable energy, perennial grasses have emerged as major candidates for the commercial production of cellulosic biofuels from feedstocks. However, little is known about the specific biological traits of the grasses that might contribute to their usefulness for energy production,… [Read More]

Model Microbial Community for Studying Expanding Dead Zones Characterized

WALNUT CREEK, CA—Among the many changes in the ocean is the expansion of oxygen-deficient or oxygen minimum zones (OMZs), also known as dead zones, which affect the processes by which carbon is captured and sequestered on the seafloor and alter the microbial activities that impact the rate and magnitude of ocean carbon sequestration.   Despite the… [Read More]

Establishing Standard Definitions for Genome Sequences

WALNUT CREEK, CA—In 1996, researchers from major genome sequencing centers around the world convened on the island of Bermuda and defined a finished genome as a gapless sequence with a nucleotide error rate of one or less in 10,000 bases. This effectively set the quality target for the human genome effort and was quickly applied… [Read More]

New Genomic Model Defines Microbes by Diet—Provides Tool for Tracking Environmental Change

WALNUT CREEK, CA—In line with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) interest in characterizing the biotic factors involved in global carbon cycling, the DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI) characterizes a diverse array of plants, microorganisms, and the communities in which they reside to inform options for reducing and stabilizing atmospheric greenhouse gases. Through a novel… [Read More]