News

Just four letters – A, C, T, and G – make up an organism’s genetic code. Changing a single letter, or base, can lead to changes in protein structures and functions, impacting an organism’s traits. In addition, though, subtler changes can and do happen, involving modifications of the DNA bases themselves. In the May 8, 2017 issue of Nature Genetics, a team led by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (JGI), a DOE Office of Science User Facility, report the prevalence of modifications in the earliest branches of the fungal kingdom. Read more in the JGI press release.

Through deep sequencing of the model grass green foxtail (Setaria viridis), researchers pinpointed a gene critical for the development of flowers that give rise to the grain. Using this information, a homologous gene in maize was identified as playing a similar role highlighting the utility of S. viridis as a model crop. Read the JGI Science Highlight.

Biosciences Postdoctoral Researcher Estelle Schaefer was the lead author of a new study on plant cell division orientation released by Science on April XX. The study developed while Schaefer was affiliated with the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) in France and provides further insight into the actual mechanics of cell division in plants.

One phase of the cell division cycle is called mitosis, which is when replicated chromosomes are separated into two new nuclei. Mitosis occurs in several steps and in plants includes preprophase. Schaefer’s work focused on the preprophase band of microtubules, intracellular structures responsible for various movements within cells, and showed that this band controls the robustness of cell division orientation and consequent plant development.

Since completing her PhD three years ago, Schaefer has worked in the field of cell wall biosynthesis with Henrik Scheller (Environmental Genomics & Systems Biology Division) at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI). She will soon transition to the DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI) where she will work with John Vogel to study the interactions between Brachypodium roots and microbes of the rhizosphere.

Grayson (D-Concord) and his district director Naser Javaid recently visited JGI to learn about their sequencing, metabolomics, single-cell genomics, and DNA synthesis capabilities. Grayson also met with JGI Director Nigel Mouncey and heard from researchers Susannah Tringe and Trent Northen.

As reported in the April 7 issue of Science, a JGI-led team discovered a group of giant viruses dubbed Klosneuviruses in sequence data from wastewater treatment samples. The team says the finding significantly increases our understanding of viral evolution. Postdoc and study first author Frederik Schulz was interviewed on Science Friday about the work. Read more in JGI News & Publications.