Projects

Deploying Advanced Molecular & Cell Free Expression Tools to Accelerate Characterization of Fungal Cellulosomes

Lead Institution

University of California, Santa Barbara

Principal Investigator

Michelle O'Malley

Project type

FICUS Research

This proposal seeks use of EMSL and JGI resources to determine the structure of unique, multi-enzyme cellulosomes made by anaerobic gut fungi. Cellulosomes enable synergistic breakdown of plant…

Linking soil microbial stress metabolism to watershed biogeochemistry under climate change across seasons

Lead Institution

Boston University

Principal Investigator

Jennifer Bhatnagar

Project type

FICUS Research

Air temperatures are rising, while the winter snowpack is shrinking and soil freeze/thaw events are increasing in high latitude ecosystems. The severe thermal perturbations from warming during the…

Elucidating the impacts of viruses on soil organic carbon and greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural peat soils

Lead Institution

University of Amsterdam

Principal Investigator

Paula Dalcin Martins

Project type

FICUS Research

Viruses are the most abundant biological entities on Earth. Despite their abundance, soil viruses are poorly characterized and viral impacts on the biogeochemical cycles in soils are vastly…

Parched: quantifying microbial ecophysiology and the fate of plant carbon during soil dry down

Lead Institution

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Steve Blazewicz

Project type

FICUS Research

In seasonally dry grasslands, soil microbes bloom during the plant growing season, survive extreme desiccation (water potential < -35 MPa) during long dry periods, and then rapidly mineralize soil…

Moisture and seasonal drivers of Inter-Kingdom metabolic interaction in a marginal soil rhizosphere

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

William Nelson

Project type

FICUS Research

Soil is a complex environment with numerous competing and cooperating populations contributing to overall ecosystem services. Plants provide most of the fresh organic carbon inputs through growth and…

Vertically and Size-Resolved Chemical Speciation of Aqueously Processed Organic Aerosols

Lead Institution

University of California, Berkeley

Principal Investigator

Allen Goldstein

Project type

FICUS Research

This proposal focuses on improving process-level understanding and model representation of 1) aerosol-cloud interactions and 2) aerosol processes affecting cloud lifecycle, properties, and/or…

Metabolic exchange between Spartina alterniflora and sulfur chemosymbionts of the plant's root microbiome

Lead Institution

Georgia Institute of Technology

Principal Investigator

Joel Kostka

Project type

FICUS Research

Vegetated coastal ecosystems are among the most intense carbon sinks in the biosphere, storing large amounts of carbon in their soils. Despite the fact that the root zone of coastal wetland plants…

Understanding and Harnessing the Robustness of Undomesticated Yarrowia lipolytica Strains for Biosynthesis of Designer Bioesters

Lead Institution

University of Tennessee

Principal Investigator

Cong Trinh

Project type

FICUS Research

The goal of this proposed research is to elucidate and harness the exceptional robustness of the novel, undomesticated Yarrowia lipolytica isolates from genetic diversity screening as a bioenergy…

Deciphering the Structure & Function of Secondary Metabolites from Anaerobic Fungi

Lead Institution

University of California, Santa Barbara

Principal Investigator

Michelle O'Malley

Project type

FICUS Research

We recently uncovered the biosynthetic machinery to produce a wide array of secondary metabolites within the genomes of the anaerobic fungal phylum Neocallimastigomycota. These fungi live among…

Linking phosphorus and carbon in rhizosphere nutrient cycling

Lead Institution

Michigan State University

Principal Investigator

James Moran

Project type

FICUS Research

Plant root exudates provide a significant carbon (C) source for rhizosphere microbial communities. In return, these communities help mobilize nutrients needed for plant growth. For instance,…

Epigenetic regulation of anaerobic fungi for increased lignocellulose degradation

Lead Institution

University of Delaware

Principal Investigator

Kevin Solomon

Project type

FICUS Research

This project studies the impact of epigenetic regulation in anaerobic fungi to develop strategies that control lignocellulolytic enzyme expression and activity for increased lignocellulose breakdown…

Interactive mechanisms of mineral dissolution by a microbial consortia

Lead Institution

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Principal Investigator

Yeala Shaked

Project type

FICUS Research

Essential metabolic functions within ecosystems are often partitioned among various members of microbial communities that each benefit the whole population. For example, nitrogen fixation is carried…

Plant litter degradation and microbial defense by host-specific fungal endophytes

Lead Institution

University of California, Santa Barbara

Principal Investigator

Ryoko Oono

Project type

FICUS Research

Decomposition of leaf litter by a diverse microbial community is a major biogeochemical process in the global carbon cycle. Fungi are considered the primary decomposers of plant litter, especially of…

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,…

Detecting Seismically-Sustained Deep Subsurface CH4-cycling Chemolithoautotrophic Microbial Communities Using Multi-Omic Analyses and NanoSIMS

Lead Institution

Princeton University

Principal Investigator

Tullis Onstott

Project type

FICUS Research

The specific objective of the proposed JGI/EMSL project is to document the microbial ecosystem of an active fault zone at 3.5 to 3.6 kilometers depth in South Africa. More specifically, the goal is…

Characterizing the ecophysiologies of uncultured syntrophic associations driving anaerobic methane oxidation: applications of targeted meta'omics and multi-modal analytical imaging of diverse archaeal-bacterial consortia

Lead Institution

California Institute of Technology

Principal Investigator

Victoria Orphan

Project type

FICUS Research

The main objective of this work is to combine the molecular, elemental and cryo-electron imaging and metaproteomics available at EMSL with the single cell genomics pipeline at the JGI in a highly…

Systems Analysis of Trophic Transitions in Chromochloris zofingiensis, an Emerging Model Green Alga with Promising Biofuel Potential

Lead Institution

University of California, Berkeley

Principal Investigator

Krishna Niyogi

Project type

FICUS Research

As a core component of a sustainable bio-economy, microalgae have the potential to become a major source of biofuels and bioproducts without exacerbating environmental problems. These photosynthetic…

Biodiversity and ice-nucleating activity of soil and marine airborne microorganisms and relationship to source material

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Susannah Burrows

Project type

FICUS Research

Understanding the nature, sources, and geographic and seasonal distribution of atmospheric ice nucleating particles (INPs), i.e., particles that promote freezing of cloud droplets, is critical to…

Towards a molecular-level understanding of terrestrial organic matter transformations by microbes in a rapidly changing Arctic Ocean

Lead Institution

Concordia University

Principal Investigator

David Walsh

Project type

FICUS Research

The fate of terrestrial organic matter in coastal seas and open oceans is not well understood. This is especially true in the Arctic Ocean, which is one of the largest depositories of terrestrial…

Revealing the Molecular Interactions in Phototroph-Heterotroph Co-Cultures for Bioenergy Through Development of an In Silico Platform for Design and Discovery

Lead Institution

Johns Hopkins University

Principal Investigator

Michael Betenbaugh

Project type

FICUS Research

Lichens are nature's solar cells, harnessing energy from sunlight and converting it along with CO2 into biochemicals. They achieve this goal through a complex web of interactions between a…