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DOE JGI Community Sequencing Program delivers first moss genome

DOE/Joint Genome Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Messages from nearly a half-billion years ago, conveyed via the inventory of genes sequenced from a present-day moss, provide clues about the earliest colonization of dry land by plants. The US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, was among the leaders of an international effort to complete the sequence of the first nonvascular land plant, the moss Physcomitrella patens, published Dec. 13 online in Science.

Journal: Science
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Explosives at the microscopic scale produce shocking results

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

US troops blew up enemy bridges with explosives in World War II to slow the advance of supplies or enemy forces.

Journal: Nature Physics
Funder: Laboratory Directed Research and Development

Latest Integrated Microbial Genomes data management system update release

DOE/Joint Genome Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Version 2.4 of the Integrated Microbial Genomes data management system, a resource provided to the scientific community for microbial genome data analysis, has now been released. Hosted by the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, IMG has built a popular following as reflected in the overwhelming response to IMG workshops offered in Spring 2008, now full. DOE JGI has added a fall session, Sept. 15-19.

Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Helium isotopes point to new sources of geothermal energy

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

By measuring helium isotope ratios in fluids at the surface, geochemists Mack Kennedy of the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Matthijs van Soest of Arizona State University have discovered a new tool for identifying potential geothermal energy resources. The potential resources arise not from volcanism but from the flow of surface fluids through deep fractures that penetrate the earth's lower crust, in regions far from current or recent volcanic activity.

Journal: Science
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

DOE JGI plumbs termite guts to yield novel enzymes for better biofuel production

DOE/Joint Genome Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Termites may provide the biochemical means to a greener biofuel future. The bellies of these tiny beasts harbor a gold mine of microbes that have now been tapped as a rich source of enzymes for improving the conversion of biomass to valuable biofuels. The genomic sequencing and analysis of the termite gut microbes by the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute are highlighted in the Nov. 22 edition of the journal Nature.

Journal: Nature
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

The world's smallest double slit experiment

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Where do the realms of quantum mechanics and classical physics begin to overlap? It's a long-argued question of philosophical interest and practical importance. Now the world's smallest double slit experiment, performed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Advanced Light Source and using as "slits" the two proton nuclei of a hydrogen molecule, has shown that quantum particles start behaving in a classical way on a scale as small as a single hydrogen molecule.

Journal: Science
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Make way for the real nanopod

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Make way for the real nanopod and make room in the Guinness World Records. A team of researchers with the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley have created the first fully-functional radio from a single carbon nanotube, which makes it by several orders of magnitude the smallest radio ever made.

Journal: Nano Letters
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, National Science Foundation

Going live with click chemistry

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Click chemistry, one of the most exciting and proficient new techniques for labeling biomolecules in vitro, has now been extended to studies in the context of live cells as well. This breakthrough opens the door for applications to live cell imaging of numerous biomolecules, including glycans, proteins and lipids. The new version of click chemistry was developed by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health

Massive reanalysis of genome data solves case of the lethal genes

DOE/Joint Genome Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Sifting through the massive backlog of microbial genome sequences from the public databases the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute identified genes that kill the bacteria employed in the sequencing process and throw a microbial wrench in the works. Their observations also offer a possible strategy for the discovery of new antibiotics. These findings are published in the Oct. 19 edition of the journal Science.

Journal: Science
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Researchers measure carbon nanotube interaction

DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Carbon nanotubes have been employed for a variety of uses including composite materials, biosensors, nano-electronic circuits and membranes.

Journal: Nature Nanotechnology