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Content Tagged "microbes"

Analysis of a TCE-degrading metagenome

Groundwater sites contaminated with compounds such as trichloroethene (TCE), a pervasive organic groundwater pollutant often used by industry as cleansers or degreasers.Dehalococcoidesbacteria, often found in a community of other microorganisms at groundwater sites contaminated with these compounds, can break down TCE and convert it into ethene, a harmless chemical compound often used to help ripen… [Read More]

DOE JGI Genomics of Energy and Environment Meeting coverage by GenomeWeb

Purdue University’s Jody Banks kicked off the scientific sessions at the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute’s 7th annual User Meeting in Walnut Creek, Calif., this week with her talk on the Selaginella genome and how sequencing diverse species could help researchers understand plant evolution. Read more at GenomeWeb [Read More]

Bioinformatics challenges for metagenomic analyses

There are more microbes in, on and around the planet than there are stars in the sky. However, the vast majority of these microorganisms have not yet been studied, in part because many of them do not thrive when moved out of their natural environment. A spoonful of soil contains a complex and diverse microbial… [Read More]

Dietary impacts on hoatzin crop microbial communities

Many DOE JGI metagenomic projects focus on microbial communities in the guts of the cow, termite and even the desert locust, all known to break down plant biomass for energy. In studying these and other gut microbial communities, researchers hope to identify and isolate genes involved in plant biomass degradation, and apply them to biofuel… [Read More]

Permafrost study referenced in ScienceNews

In Nature in December, a team of researchers at the Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, Calif., and colleagues reported one such microbe’s draft genome — put together from DNA acquired from the semifrozen dirt in an Alaskan black spruce forest. The Alaskan microbe carries genes tuned to transform organic matter into methane, a finding that… [Read More]

Permafrost metagenome study on VOA Special English report

The researchers say one gram of the soil could contain thousands of different kinds of microbes and billions of cells. They say these organisms had never before been cultured in a laboratory. JANET JANSSON:  “So more than ninety percent of those bacteria and other microorganisms in permafrost, we had no idea what they were.” Read… [Read More]

Mite genome to help protect bioenergy feedstocks

The tiny two-spotted spider mite extracts nutrients from the leaves of 1,100 plant species including bioenergy feedstock crops. The global cost of chemically controlling this pest is estimated to be around $1 billion annually. Given its potential to significantly reduce crop yields and inhibit biofuel production, the spider mite Tetranychusurticaewas selected for the 2007 DOE… [Read More]

DOE JGI research featured in io9

Last month I was lucky enough to visit one of the biggest genomics labs in the world. At the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) in Walnut Creek, CA, huge rooms full of genome sequencing machines work 24/7 to crunch the codes that create life. And the research here, funded by the US Department of Energy, has… [Read More]

Permafrost soil metagenome study on Voice of America

Lead author Janet Jansson, senior scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California says the trapped microorganisms in permafrost are still active. Jansson and colleagues at the U.S. Geological Survey and the Joint Genome Institute at the Department of Energy set out to identify microbes in permafrost and find out what they would do once… [Read More]