DOE JGI Helps Develop New Technology to Access Microbial Dark Matter

Miniaturized, microfluidic-based metagenomics technology developed under the aegis of the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute’s (DOE JGI) Emerging Technology Opportunity Program (ETOP) has enabled researchers to shine a light on so-called microbial “dark matter”—the majority of the planet’s microbial diversity that remains uncultivated. Researchers from Stanford University demonstrated the efficacy of the new technique, extracting 29 novel microbial genomes from Yellowstone hot spring samples while still preserving single-cell resolution to enable accurate analysis of genome function and abundance. Read more in this DOE JGI Science Highlight.