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A photosynthetic pathway for mats under anoxic conditions

Many microbes are unculturablebecause they do not thrive when extracted from their habitats. Studies conducted within the context of a group allows researchers to see the interactions taking place and use the clues provided to identify the individual roles of the microorganisms. Photosynthetic microbial mats fix carbon in the day, but it turns out that… [Read More]

Yellowstone yields novel achaeon and candidate Archaea phylum

When a third branch to the Tree of Life was proposed several decades ago, the evidence used to support the need to recognize the kingdom Archaea came in the form of two divisions of organisms that could not be categorized as Eukaryotes or Bacteria. Since then, several more archaeal phyla have been recognized, many of them… [Read More]

(De)Coupling marine microbial abundance and activity levels

Prochlorococcus count among the most abundant species of tiny cyanobacteria in the oceans. An estimated 100 million cells of this unicellular organism can be found in a single liter of seawater, and these cyanobacteria help remove some 10 billion tons of carbon from the atmosphere every year. A long-held assumption has been that the size… [Read More]

The poplar genome’s impact, a decade on

During his keynote speech at the DOE Joint Genome Institute’s Annual Genomics of Energy & Environment Meeting, science writer Carl Zimmer discussed the status of personalized medicine following the completion of the Human Genome Project. In an article published online October 25, 2012 in Tree Physiology, researchers including Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Jerry Tuskan present a similar… [Read More]

Cyanobacterial genomics a basis for improvements in photosynthesis

Plants trap carbon with the help of a key enzyme called RubisCO. To learn more about improving the efficiency of fixing carbon and of the photosynthetic process in general, researchers are studying cyanobacteria such as blue-green algae. At the DOE Joint Genome Institute, Structural Genomics Program head Cheryl Kerfeld and her colleagues have been collaborating… [Read More]

Bioscriber, an online synthetic biology tutorial, debuts

Developed as a means of introducing the concept of DNA synthesis/synthetic biology to the general public and how it is used at the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) and the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) for biofuels research, Bioscriber debuted on October 13, 2012 at the Berkeley Lab Open House.  The initial… [Read More]

Button Mushroom Marks Niche in Forest Carbon Storage

Many people know the button mushroom (Agaricusbisporus) as a tasty ingredient in their food. In the forest, though, this mushroom helps break down leaf litter in environments rich with humus, a mixture of soil and compost that contributes to the health of the microbial communities in, on and around the plant as well as the… [Read More]

Comparing White Rots to Shed Light on Wood-Colonizing Habit

White-rot basidiomycetes can degrade all components of lignocellulosicbiomass, including lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose. Thus, harnessing the metabolic potential of these organisms is key to developing cost-effective technologies for the production of renewable energy and value-added co-products from residual plant biomass. A comparative analysis of the white rot fungus, Phanerochaetecarnosa, isolated from softwoods, andPhanerochaetechrysosporium, isolated from… [Read More]

Targeted metagenomics approach pins down role of “wild” alga

Marine microbes play key roles in cycling carbon between the atmosphere and the ocean depths, but little is known about their populations throughout the waters. As global temperatures change, so do these populations, which in turn impacts their contributions to the carbon cycle. Researchers want to learn more about these effects, but one of the… [Read More]

Algal Lipid Pathways Linked to Those in Plants and Fungi

Red algae play an important role in carbon and nitrogen cycles in the ocean, and are potential biomass for biofuel production. However, few red algae have been studied at the genomic level to date. An international collaboration of researchers has found that some species of the extremophilic red algae Porphyra have a pathway similar to… [Read More]