Spikemoss (Physcomitrella patens) is one DOE JGI’s Plant Flagship Genomes. However, researchers note that despite its many advantages as a model Flagship organism, the moss is exceedingly rare in nature, is poorly characterized ecologically, and forms miniscule quantities of biomass worldwide. In contrast, peat mosses have tremendous impacts on global carbon budgets and climate.Both arctic tundra and high-latitude peatland ecosystems have provided vast sinks in terrestrial carbon with an estimated 1672 and 400 gigatons of stored carbon in permafrost and peatlands, respectively. For this reason, researchers suggest that sequencing the genome of peat moss (Sphagnum magellanicum) would provide spikemoss with an excellent comparator.
Proposer’s Name: Jonathan Shaw