Known by the researchers who sequenced it at the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute as “The Beast”, and considered the “Flowers of the Ocean” by others, Emiliania huxleyi has proved to be a single-celled coccolithophore of many faces. The third most abundant group of phytoplankton, Ehux is the basis of most ocean food chains,…
Ehux pangenome project in San Diego Union-Tribune
The algae are the third most abundant phytoplankton, and are a key component of the ocean food chain, nourishing animals including crustaceans, shellfish and other filter feeders.They’re characterized by their intricate shells, composed of interwoven lattices of calcium carbonate.“We kind of think of them as flowers of the ocean,” Read said. Read the full story…
Capsella provides insight into the genomic results of selfing
About 200,000 years ago, Capsella rubella began self fertilizing and split from C. grandiflora. To study the effects of selfing on C. rubella’s genome, the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute sequenced and compared it with C. grandiflora and members of the closely related Arabidopsis genus – the first plant ever sequenced and model species…
Ehux pangenome project in redOrbit
“The Ehux genome is incredibly variable,” said study co-author Dr. Uwe John and biologist with the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). “For example, if the genetic information of two humans is compared, an agreement of about 99 per cent is found. However, if, for example, we take two Ehux strains from…
Chalking up a Marine Blooming Alga: Genome Fills a Gap in the Tree of Life
To World War II soldiers, “The White Cliffs of Dover” was a morale-boosting song that lifted spirits in dark times. To geographers, the white cliffs mark the point at which England is closest to continental Europe. To scientists, the white cliffs are towering structures made of the chalky, white shells that envelop the single-celled photosynthetic…
Fungal genome offers clues on how leaf-cutter ants farm
Leaf-cutter ants are well-known examples of insects that use microbes to gain access to nutrients, farming “gardens” in which bacteria and fungi break down plant mass. In an article featured on the cover of the June 2013 issue of Applied Environmental Microbiology, a team including DOE Joint Genome Institute researchers and longtime collaborators at the Great…
Microbial genomes help propose phylum name
Metagenomicsand single-cell genomics are tools helping researchers learn more about the “biological dark matter” that has not been cultivated and studied in the laboratory. In an article published May 14, 2013 in Nature Communications.
DOE Early Career Awardee’s work to involve DOE JGI collaboration
O’Malley’s research, which she recently presented at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society, involves the use of anaerobic gut fungi from horses, sheep, and other large herbivores to convert the cellulose in plants into sugars. Nature has evolved these fungi to break through lignin, a tough biopolymer that surrounds cellulose, and convert that…
The genetic diversity of the maize microbiome
The rhizosphere is the space in, on and around the plant roots where microbes in the plant interact with the microbes in the soil. The DOE JGI did a study with the plant Arabidopsis.
The DOE Joint Genome Institute Expands Capabilities via New Partnerships
With the publication last year of its strategic plan, “Forging the Future — A Ten-Year Strategic Vision” the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) has positioned itself to provide the most current technology and expertise to their users so that they can address pressing energy and environmental scientific challenges. An important early…