Biosciences News

Xylose utilization remains the primary bottleneck in fully using the renewable plant biomass. In a Nature Scientific Reports paper entitled, “Evolved hexose transporter enhances xylose uptake and glucose/xylose co-utilization in Saccharomyces cerevisiae,” Biological Systems & Engineering Division researchers at Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) Amanda Reider Apel and Aindrila Mukhopadhyay report the discovery and characterization of a yeast sugar transporter variant with superior Vmax (uptake rates) for xylose. This discovery will be valuable in developing biomanufacturing strains that can use the full set of sugars generated from plant biomass. Read more on the JBEI website.

If you have a soft spot for unsung heroes, you’ll love a DNA repair protein called XPG. Berkeley Lab scientists discovered that XPG plays a previously unknown and critical role helping to maintain genome stability in human cells. Their findings also raise the possibility that the protein helps prevent breast, ovarian, and other cancers associated with defective BRCA genes.

The work, which is published online January 28 in the journal Molecular Cell, indicates XPG is essential to our health in ways far beyond it’s been given credit for.

Priscilla Cooper of the Biological Systems and Engineering Division conducted the research with Kelly Trego and several others at Berkeley Lab, as well as scientists from Colorado State University, Yale University, and Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands. Read more at the Berkeley Lab News Center.

Coastal seagrass ecosystems cover some 200,000 square kilometers. They account for an estimated 15 percent of carbon fixed in global ocean, and also impact sulfur and nitrogen cycles.As a foundational species in the coastal marine ecosystem, researchers are interested in understanding how the plant—and by extension other plants in the ecosystem—adapts to climate change. Published online January 27, 2016 in Nature – and as the cover of the journal’s February 18, 2016 issue – a European team including researchers from the DOE Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) sequenced a seagrass genome: that of the eelgrass Zostera marina, taken from the Archipelago Sea off Finland.  Read more on the JGI website.

A researcher analyzing vast quantities of genomic data is not unlike a beachcomber slowly scanning a beach with a metal detector. Although global microbial populations are orders of magnitude larger than nearly any other population in, on or around the planet, only a fraction has been identified thus far. More thorough surveys could lead to new strategies for DOE researchers to advance their energy and environmental investigations. In a study published January 27, 2016 in Nature Communications, a team led by DOE Joint Genome Institute researchers utilized the largest collection of metagenomic datasets to uncover a completely novel bacterial phylum that they have dubbed “Kryptonia.” Read more on the DOE JGI website.

The Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) held a public session on Tuesday, January 26 at the Biosciences Area’s Emery Station Operations Center (ESOC). Berkeley Lab’s Director Paul Alivisatos gave a Lab overview. Jennifer Doudna was invited by SEAB to give a briefing of CRISPR-Cas and Ilan Gur led a roundtable discussion on the activities of … Read more »