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Content Tagged "plants"

Moss Sequencing “Ennobles” Flagship Genome

Physcomitrella Genome Expected to Provide Help with Global Climate Change The Science An international team of scientists has annotated all 32,275 genes of Physcomitrella patens, a moss sequenced by the DOE Joint Genome Institute that contains about 10,000 more genes than humans. The Impact It is widely believed that the P. patens genome contains information… [Read More]

Noncoding DNA Map Provides Insight to Plant Gene Regulation

Widely used as a model for plant research, Arabidopsis thaliana was the first plant to have its genome completely sequenced. However, there is still much to learn about this plant, including the function of its many DNA conserved noncoding sequences (CNSs). These regions hold key roles in activating certain traits during plant development, but why… [Read More]

Sinking SOS levels lead to reduced salt tolerance

The Food and Agriculture Organization reported that salt levels in the soil is reducing the world’s agricultural lands at the rate of one percent a year. Concerns over feeding a growing global population with limited arable land have led to interest in developing salt-tolerant crops for food and fuel Found on the seashores of eastern… [Read More]

Cyanobacterial genomics a basis for improvements in photosynthesis

Plants trap carbon with the help of a key enzyme called RubisCO. To learn more about improving the efficiency of fixing carbon and of the photosynthetic process in general, researchers are studying cyanobacteria such as blue-green algae. At the DOE Joint Genome Institute, Structural Genomics Program head Cheryl Kerfeld and her colleagues have been collaborating… [Read More]

White rot fungal genomics for biopulping in Biomass Magazine

Something special is happening with a research project focused on two white rot fungi genomes. Led by the U.S. DOE’s Joint Genome Institute, a team of international researchers is collaborating on a project to sequence and analyze the fungi strains to understand how enzymes present in the fungi break down plant biomass. It’s not the research… [Read More]

On white rot, coal and biofuels in ClimateWire

The evolutionary rise of a common fungus — white rot — is responsible for the end of underground coal formation 60 million years ago, scientists say in a paper published last week in Science.Ironically, that same fungus could now be a key element to help the world move away from fossil fuels by helping to create… [Read More]

Foxtail Millet Genome an Improved Reference for Switchgrass

The DOE is interested in switchgrass as a prospective biofuels feedstock, but its genome is complicated because it has multiple copies of its chromosomes. As the world leader in sequencing plants and other organisms for their relevance to DOE missions, the JGI has sequenced switchgrass and several other plants that are candidate plant feedstocks; other… [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]

Spider mite genome project in GenomeWeb

The spider mite, named for its ability to spin webs, belongs to an arthropod sub-group comprised of so-called chelicerates and is capable of consuming more than 1,100 plant species. This trait, coupled with its ability to develop resistance to most commonly used pesticides, have made it a potent pest, known for damaging ornamental plants and… [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]