Projects

Quantifying Differential Expression and Identifying Bottlenecks in Methanogenic Pathways

Lead Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Principal Investigator

Zaida Luthey-Schulten

Project type

FICUS Research

To facilitate our BER funded research to develop models of acetotrophic methanogenic microbes that predictively capture changes in cell behavior with single cell resolution due to dynamic…

Dissecting intraspecies diversity in fungal wood decay

Lead Institution

Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute

Principal Investigator

Ronald de Vries

Project type

FICUS Research

Basidiomycete fungi are essential for degradation of wood in natural eco-systems and therefore a crucial part of the global carbon cycle. Genomic and post-genomic studies into several basidiomycete…

Integrated biogeochemical modeling of microbial consortia mediating anaerobic oxidation of methane in dynamic methane hydrate-bearing sediments

Lead Institution

Oregon State University

Principal Investigator

Frederick Colwell

Project type

FICUS Research

Methane hydrate-bearing marine continental margin sediments are estimated to contain up to 2000 Pg carbon as methane, a potent greenhouse gas. This methane is released upon hydrate dissociation,…

Systems-level insights into carbon transformations in thawing permafrost by parallel high-resolution organic matter and microbial community characterizations

Lead Institution

The Ohio State University

Principal Investigator

Virginia Rich

Project type

FICUS Research

A fundamental challenge of modern environmental science is to understand how earth systems will respond to climate change. A parallel challenge in biology is to understand how information encoded in…

Mapping the metabolism of nutrient and carbon exchange in the plant-microbe symbiosis

Lead Institution

West Virginia University

Principal Investigator

Jonathan Cumming

Project type

FICUS Research

This research will identify the molecular responses that enable circumvention of phosphorus (P) starvation response in symbiotic plant-microbe communities. Using JGI/EMSL capabilities to assess…

Coupling Microbial Communities to Carbon and Contaminant Biogeochemistry in the Groundwater-Surface Water Interaction Zone

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

James Stegen

Project type

FICUS Research

The proposed study will integrate molecular data generated through a combination of JGI and EMSL capabilities to support research activities under the Subsurface Biogeochemical Research-Science Focus…

Uncovering the composition and function of the aquatic microbiome for duckweeds

Lead Institution

University of Tennessee

Principal Investigator

Sarah Lebeis

Project type

FICUS Research

Duckweed is a family of aquatic plants that are the fastest flowering plants in the world. They are capable of quickly converting wastewater into an easily harvestable, low lignin content biomass…

Integrated genomic/transcriptomic/secretomic study of plant-fungal interactions between pines and their symbiotic ectomycorrhizal fungi in the mushroom genus Suillus

Lead Institution

Duke University

Principal Investigator

Rytas Vilgalys

Project type

FICUS Research

We propose an integrated -omic study of symbiotic interactions between pines (Pinus spp.) and their ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) in the genus Suillus. We are developing the Pine-Suillus symbiosis as a…

Microbial controls on biogeochemical cycling in deep subsurface shale carbon reservoirs

Lead Institution

Colorado State University

Principal Investigator

Kelly Wrighton

Project type

FICUS Research

Terrestrial deep shales and their interfaces are carbon-rich environments that represent a significant component of the U.S. energy portfolio. Energy resources in these environments have recently…

Decoding DOM degradation: how does carbon source and sunlight exposure alter microbial metabolism and expression of genome-encoded metabolic degradation of permafrost organic matter?

Lead Institution

Oregon State University

Principal Investigator

Byron Crump

Project type

FICUS Research

Climate change in the Arctic is progressing rapidly, thawing large areas of permafrost that contain nearly half of the world's soil organic carbon. Conversion of this carbon pool to greenhouse…

Sensing External Metals by Outer Membrane Beta-Barrel Proteins

Lead Institution

Georgia Institute of Technology

Principal Investigator

Thomas DiChristina

Project type

FICUS Research

Metal-reducing bacteria drive a variety of environmentally important processes, including the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and metals, the bioremediation of radionuclides and organohalides, and…

Elucidating the Influences of Engineered N-glycosylation Motifs in Bacterial Biomass Hydrolyzing Enzymes upon Heterologous and Native Gene Expression, Secretion and Degradation in Aspergillus niger

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Jon Magnuson

Project type

FICUS Research

Aspergillus niger is a genetically tractable model organism for scientific discovery and a platform organism used in industry for the production of enzymes for biomass degradation and other…

Engineering morphology and secretion to enhance the productivity of fungal fermentations

Lead Institution

University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Principal Investigator

Steven Harris

Project type

FICUS Research

Enzymes such as cellulases and amylases play an essential role in the production of biofuels through their ability to convert biomass into fermentable sugars. The primary sources of these enzymes are…

Identification and Regulation of Cellulases within Novel Anaerobic Gut Fungi

Lead Institution

University of California, Santa Barbara

Principal Investigator

Michelle O'Malley

Project type

FICUS Research

Biofuels derived from plant biomass (lignocellulose) are attractive alternatives to petroleum-based products, as they avoid many of the economic and environmental problems that plague traditional…

Functional genomics of moss-cyanobacteria interactions in boreal forest ecosystems

Lead Institution

J. Craig Venter Institute

Principal Investigator

Philip Weyman

Project type

FICUS Research

Boreal forests are important ecosystems involved in global carbon cycling. The nitrogen cycling in these ecosystems is largely determined by feather moss-associated cyanobacteria that fix the…

Development of novel approaches to target microbial drivers of C cycling in soil aggregates

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Kirsten Hofmockel

Project type

FICUS Research

We propose to develop approaches that target metabolically active microorganisms and functions that drive carbon cycling in soils from bioenergy cropping systems. Albeit critically important, soil…

Mapping soil carbon from cradle to grave: using comparative transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolite analysis to identify the microbial blueprint for root-enhanced decomposition of organic matter.

Lead Institution

University of California, Berkeley

Principal Investigator

Mary Firestone

Project type

FICUS Research

In this JGI-EMSL project, we will investigate how living roots impact the functional capacity of the detritosphere (litter and surrounding soil) microbiome that is actively mediating decomposition…

Organelles promoting high level terpenoid biosynthesis in filamentous fungi.

Lead Institution

United States Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service Cereal Disease Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Harold Kistler

Project type

FICUS Research

Terpenoid compounds are a promising source of renewable biofuels that have many favorable characteristics such as high energy content and compatibility with existing energy-use technologies. While…

FECB: A Functional Encyclopedia of Cyanobacteria - Building the knowledge framework for an enhanced understanding of carbon and nitrogen cycling

Lead Institution

University of California, Davis

Principal Investigator

Matthias Hess

Project type

FICUS Research

There has been a great interest by the Department of Energy (DOE) to increase the phylogenetic coverage of genome sequences from across the phyla archaea and bacteria – including cyanobacteria. The…

Genome-enabled Investigations of the Role of Secreted Proteins and Reactive Metabolites in Carbon Degradation by Pure and Mixed Ascomycete Fungal Communities

Lead Institution

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Principal Investigator

Colleen Hansel

Project type

FICUS Research

The Eumycete fungi (primarily Basidiomycota and Ascomycota) are key organisms in the degradation of wood, plant and animal material. While ascomycetes are less capable of rapid wood decay than…