Projects

Alternative Technologies for In Situ Bioremediation of Radioactive Iodine: Microbial Reductive Methylation of Iodate to Iodocarbon Gas

Lead Institution

Georgia Institute of Technology

Principal Investigator

Thomas DiChristina

Project type

FICUS Research

The reductive methylation of water soluble iodate (IO3-) to volatile iodine (iodocarbon) gas forms the basis of alternative remediation technologies in iodine-contaminated subsurface environments…

From phenotype to genotype and back again: large scale functional characterization of microbial dark matter by combining activity-based cell sorting, isotope labeling, and genomic sequencing

Lead Institution

Montana State University

Principal Investigator

Roland Hatzenpichler

Project type

FICUS Research

Two long-standing problems in microbial ecology are: (1) identifying the factors driving metabolic activity of microbes in their natural environment and (2) determining the substrates that are…

Identifying and applying design rules to engineer polyketide synthases for production of biofuels and bioproducts

Lead Institution

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Jay Keasling

Project type

FICUS Research

Polyketide synthases (PKSs) produce numerous secondary metabolites in soil dwelling bacteria. For over two decades, researchers have known that portions of these enzymes can be recombined to produce…

Tracking switchgrass photosynthate via 13CO2 pulse-chase into the rhizosphere microbiome and metabolome

Lead Institution

Michigan State University

Principal Investigator

Lisa Tiemann

Project type

FICUS Research

This project aims to increase our understanding of plant-microbe interactions, specifically the exchange of plant C for microbially derived nitrogen. Plant exudates are a high energy foods for…

Combining high resolution organic matter characterization and microbial meta-omics to assess the effects of nutrient loading on salt marsh carbon sequestration

Lead Institution

Northeastern University

Principal Investigator

Jennifer Bowen

Project type

FICUS Research

Salt marshes sequester an order of magnitude more carbon in their sediments than their terrestrial counterparts because rates of decomposition are inhibited by anoxic, water-logged soils. Once easily…

Scaling molecular mechanisms of mycorrhizal-decomposer interactions to emergent ecosystem carbon balance

Lead Institution

Boston University

Principal Investigator

Jennifer Bhatnagar

Project type

FICUS Research

Emerging evidence from field experiments and global scale analyses suggests that ectomycorrhizal fungi may slow soil carbon (C) cycling via negative interactions with free-living microbial…

The synchronization of microbial and plant phenology in a mountainous watershed and its importance for nutrient retention under changing hydrologic regimes.

Lead Institution

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Eoin Brodie

Project type

FICUS Research

In mountainous systems that experience seasonal snow-cover, the snowmelt period is characterized by a large pulse of nutrients that originates from microbial mineralization of organic matter beneath…

Linking Proteogenomics, Metabolomics, and Soil Organic Chemistry of Tropical Wetlands to a Soil Nutrient Cycling Model

Lead Institution

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Melanie Mayes

Project type

FICUS Research

Our goal is to explicitly link microbial function for decomposition of soil organic matter to substrate organic chemistry to improve process representation in a soil organic carbon and phosphorus (P)…

Engineering enzyme networks for biomass deconstruction in synthetic microbial communities

Lead Institution

University of British Columbia

Principal Investigator

Steven Hallam

Project type

FICUS Research

Lignocellulose, the main component of plant cell walls, is arguably the most abundant biopolymer on the planet1,2. Through biorefining, it is also a renewable input for energy and materials…

Molecular mechanisms underlying changes in the temperature sensitive respiration response of forest soils to long-term experimental warming

Lead Institution

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Principal Investigator

Jeffrey Blanchard

Project type

FICUS Research

A more complete understanding of how global warming will affect carbon-cycle feedbacks to the climate system is central to model projections of future climate. Simulation experiments with fully…

Deciphering controls on plant decomposition in Arctic ecosystems: Identifying unknown microbial condensed tannin degradation pathways

Lead Institution

Colorado State University

Principal Investigator

Kelly Wrighton

Project type

FICUS Research

Climate change in the Arctic is progressing rapidly, and much of the focus, thus far, has been on permafrost thaw and the rapid mineralization of soil organic carbon (C) by soil microorganisms…

The impacts of nitrogen availability and seasonal dynamics on plant-microbial interactions affecting C and N cycling in coniferous forest soils

Lead Institution

Institute of Microbiology of the CAS

Principal Investigator

Petr Baldrian

Project type

FICUS Research

Coniferous forests are widely distributed in temperate and boreal biomes and the fact that they efficiently store large stocks of carbon makes them globally important. Decomposer and mycorrhizal…

Global warming induced salinity shifts: metabolic responses by algal-bacterial consortia

Lead Institution

University of Washington

Principal Investigator

Rose Ann Cattolico

Project type

FICUS Research

The reality of global warming predicts that the survival of many organisms will be compromised due to rapid environmental changes of the ecosystems in which they live. Aquatic ecosystems are…

The role of priming effects on the conversion of blue carbon to CO2 in the coastal zone

Lead Institution

University of Florida

Principal Investigator

Thomas Bianchi

Project type

FICUS Research

"Blue carbon," or organic carbon (OC) derived from and stored in coastal and marine environments, is recognized as an important OC sink within the global carbon cycle, particularly in…

Systems analysis of grass secondary cell wall development and regulation for biofuel production

Lead Institution

Washington State University

Principal Investigator

Laura Bartley

Project type

FICUS Research

The objective of this proposal is to identify the proteins, phosphopeptides, transcripts, and metabolic signatures that mediate secondary cell wall (SCW) development in grasses. Grass cell walls are…

Combined 'omics approaches for the study of ectomycorrhizal symbiosis between Suillus and Pinaceae, with emphasis on their role in nutrient cycling

Lead Institution

University of Florida

Principal Investigator

Hui-ling Liao

Project type

FICUS Research

This study will explore the genetics of obligately symbiotic interactions between conifers (Pinaceae) and their host-specific ectomycorrhizal fungi in the mushroom genus Suillus, and their effects on…

Understanding conversion of biomass-derived carbon into lipids and terpenoids in the oleaginous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides

Lead Institution

University of California, Berkeley

Principal Investigator

Jeffrey Skerker

Project type

FICUS Research

The objective of this proposal is to understand how biomass-derived carbon is converted into lipids and terpenoids in the oleaginous and carotenogenic yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides. We will carry…

Metabolic Constraints on Organic Matter Decomposition and Metal Cycling in Sediment Deposits

Lead Institution

Stanford University

Principal Investigator

Scott Fendorf

Project type

FICUS Research

Depositional environments such as floodplains are poorly understood and dynamic components of the global carbon cycle that not are well represented in Earth system models. Further, they have a…

Something old, something new: systems-level insights into plant-microbial-permafrost carbon dynamics by parallel high-resolution organic matter and microbial meta-omics

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…

Investigating the carbon cycling implications of changing microbial leaf litter decomposition across a permafrost thaw gradient.

Lead Institution

University of Arizona

Principal Investigator

Scott Saleska

Project type

FICUS Research

Thawing arctic permafrost (which contains 30-50% of global soil carbon) is expected to drive substantial alterations to carbon (C) cycling that will accelerate climate change. As permafrost thaws,…