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Fungi and plants working hand-in-hand

Genomic analysis of an ancient companion of plants shows expanded genes for phosphorus fixation and cell-to-cell communication The Science: More than two thirds of the world’s plants depend on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF, also called glomeromycota) because of their ability to fix phosphorus. By analyzing the genome of one AMF, Rhizophagus irregularis (formerly Glomus intraradices),… [Read More]

On the hunt for industrial enzymes

Researchers mined DOE JGI’s database of fungal genomes for candidate enzymes for use in a variety of industrial processes. The Science By screening genomes of fungi made publicly available by the DOE Joint Genome Institute researchers identified new versions of enzymes called lipases and sterol esterases. To further study the most promising enzymes, they created… [Read More]

Leaf-cutter ants project in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“These bacteria and these fungi have evolved for millions of years to deconstruct plant biomass,” said Frank Aylward, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies leaf-cutter ants and their fungus gardens. “We should try to learn from them and find out how it occurs in nature.” Read more at JSOnline.com about this… [Read More]

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… [Read More]

Lessons learned from comparing Cochliobolus fungi

Cochliobolus fungi are cereal grain pathogens in the Dothideomycetes class, and many species are known to infect crops such as corn, rice, barley, wheat and oats, causing severe losses at harvest time and to biomass feedstocks for biofuels. In a study published January 24, 2013 in Plos Genetics, one in a series of publications concerning… [Read More]

A fungal pathogen with a “genetically flexible” genome

In 2012, the damp winter threatened the wheat harvest in the state of Kansas, the nation’s single largest producer of the grain and wheat prices rose by 10 percent as a result. Diseases such as tan spot caused by the fungus Pyrenophoratritici-repentis (Ptr) factored into the reduced wheat harvests. In North Dakota, which ranks second… [Read More]

Lifestyles of a fungal plant pathogen family

The fungi that belong to the Dothideomycetes family are found on every continent and can tolerate a wide range of environmental extremes. Additionally, several of the fungi are plant pathogens that infect nearly every major crop used for food, fiber or fuel. In the December 6, 2012 issue of PLoS Pathogens, an international team led… [Read More]

Fungal pathogens – the common thread between pine and tomato

The disease that causes leaf mold on a tomato was first reported in the 1800s but hasn’t posed a major economic threat for several decades. Needle blight affects pine species around the world, causing severe economic losses. At first glance, the diseases appear unrelated but they are both caused by related fungal plant pathogens from… [Read More]

C&EN covers microbiomes for biofuels development

Any new technology that emerges from animal microbiome mining would need to improve upon the proprietary enzyme systems already in companies’ arsenals. For example, enzyme company Novozymes is already marketing cellulase enzymes from Trichoderma reesei, a fungus originally discovered because it was degrading cotton military uniforms and canvas tents in the South Pacific during World War… [Read More]

Button mushroom genome in Scientist Live

The analysis of the inner workings of the world’s most cultivated mushroom was published online the week of October 8 in the journal, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in collaboration with two-dozen institutions, including Bristol, led by the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) and the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome… [Read More]