Projects | Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Functional and structural analysis of microbial expansin-related proteins that transform lignocellulosic biomass

Lead Institution

University of Toronto

Principal Investigator

Emma Master

Project type

FICUS Research

This project brings together functional genomics, structural biology, and advanced techniques in material science, to evaluate the untapped potential of microbial expansin-related proteins in the…

Tracking the degradation of fresh particulate organic matter in permeable riverbed sediments using FT-ICR-MS and metagenomic/transcriptomic sequencing

Lead Institution

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Principal Investigator

Eric Roden

Project type

FICUS Research

The hyporheic zone, where groundwater and river water mix within riverine corridors, represents a highly active zone of biogeochemical cycling in which key transformations of many critical elements…

Illuminating soil biogeochemical responses to press and pulse disturbances in a coastal ecosystem

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Jianqiu Zheng

Project type

FICUS Research

Coastal ecosystems are undergoing dramatic transitions as sea level rise accelerates and precipitation and storm regimes change. Depending upon the intensity and duration of seawater exposure,…

Plastic Degrading Microbial Communities from Insect Larvae Guts

Lead Institution

University of Delaware

Principal Investigator

Mark Blenner

Project type

FICUS Research

Insect microbial consortia are attractive platforms for plastics deconstruction and conversion as they degrade plastics more rapidly than microbial isolates and do not require pretreatment. While…

Resolving taxon-specific contributions to nutrient cycling in soil microbial communities through stable isotope enabled multi-omics

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Amy Zimmerman

Project type

FICUS Research

Mechanistic and predictive understanding of microbial nutrient cycling requires deconvoluting the outcomes of multiple population- and community-scale processes. Yet quantitative knowledge of…

Belowground genotype-phenotype controls on nitrogen use efficiency of a sorghum bioenergy crop

Lead Institution

University of Arizona

Principal Investigator

Laura Meredith

Project type

FICUS Research

Plant-microbe interactions drive nitrogen (N) transformations in soil, and a detailed understanding of these inter-organismal interactions is needed to enhance crop productivity and N use efficiency,…

Beneficial Partners: Context Dependent Mycorrhizal Resource Exchange in Bioenergy Cropping Systems

Lead Institution

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Erin Nuccio

Project type

FICUS Research

The development of environmentally sustainable sources of energy is a grand challenge of the 21st century. Plant feedstocks are promising renewable sources for liquid transportation fuels, and the…

Assessing the contribution of sediment bioirrigation to the oxidative removal of methane from a fluvial wetland.

Lead Institution

Marine Biological Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Emil Ruff

Project type

FICUS Research

Wetlands are among the largest natural sources of the greenhouse gas methane. While the net fluxes of methane to the atmosphere are relatively well understood, the amount of methane-derived carbon…

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…