The one-celled creatures are now part of a major research initiative at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory to explore ways to recapture more of the 6 billion tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide human activities generate annually The researchers, who will speak Monday evening at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, are working with the…
JGI Science @ the Lesher in Contra Costa Times
The researchers, who will speak Monday evening at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, are working with the Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, a federal facility for genetic sequencing of microbes and other life-forms. The terrestrial ecosystem, meaning everything on land — from plants to soil and other geological features —…
Selaginella genome project on ScienceBlog
“When you burn coal, you’re burning Selaginella‘s ancestors,” said Purdue University botanist Jody Banks, who originally proposed that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI) sequence the plant more commonly known as spikemoss as part of the DOE JGI’s 2005 Community Sequencing Program. Read more on ScienceBlog
Selaginella genome project in CORDIS Wire
This genome, sequenced by the Joint Genome Institute of the U.S. Department of Energy, is expected to give scientists a better understanding of how plants of all kinds evolved over the past 500 million years. Banks, a professor of botany and plant pathology, led a team of about 100 scientists from 11 countries to sequence…
Poplar rust fungus in comparative genomics study
Rust plant pathogens make up a large fungal group which cannot survive on their own so they use crops as hosts, leading to reduced yields and potentially hindering efforts to grow biomass for fuel. To learn more about these, a 2006 Community Sequencing Program project generated the 101-million base pair genome of the poplar leaf…
Selaginella genome project on NPR
Probing the secrets of plants at the genetic level is all the rage these days among scientists seeking to understand how plants evolved on Earth. One of those plants is selaginella, one of the first plants to develop a system of tubes that transport water and nutrients inside a plant. Read more or listen to…
Spikemoss Genome Offers New Paths for Biofuels Research–Bridges Plant Development Gap
WALNUT CREEK, Calif.— It’s not quite Christmas, but the DNA sequence of a small plant that resembles the seasonal conifers is providing biofuels researchers with information that could influence the development of candidate biofuel feedstock plants and offering botanists long-awaited insights into plant evolution. “When you burn coal, you’re burning Selaginella’s ancestors,” said Purdue University…
Selaginella genome project in GenomeWeb Daily News
By sequencing the genome of the spikemoss Selaginella moellendorffii and comparing it to several other sequenced plant genomes, researchers have identified genetic patterns that correspond to different stages of plant evolution. Read more at GenomeWeb Daily News
Poplar leaf rust genome project in GenomeWeb Daily News
By comparing the genomes to one another and to some previously sequenced fungal pathogens and symbionts, the researchers identified features in the rust fungi genomes that seem to coincide with their pathogenic lifestyles. For instance, they tracked down a slew of genes coding for so-called effectors — small, secreted proteins that help the fungi thwart…
Poplar leaf rust genome project on SeedQuest
Sequenced at the DOE JGI using the Sanger platform under the 2006 Community Sequencing Program, the 101-million base pair genome of Melampsora larici-populina, the first tree pathogen sequenced, was made publicly available in 2008. Poplar leaf rust outbreaks weaken poplar trees, a candidate bioenergy feedstock whose genome sequence was published by the DOE JGI in…