Biosciences researchers are among the recipients of four new DOE awards. Two awards will focus on reducing carbon emissions while producing bioenergy. The other two are aimed at understanding the role of microbiomes in the biogeochemical cycling of elements like carbon.
Cryo-EM Reveals Blueprint for Microbial Photosynthesis
Advances in cryogenic electron microscopy have enabled an international team of experts to visualize the structure of a cyanobacterial phycobilisome with nearly atomic resolution. The work, a collaboration among researchers at Michigan State University, UC Berkeley, Berkeley Lab, and the University of South Bohemia in the Czech Republic, was published in Nature. Knowing the position of different proteins and pigments helps scientist better understand this natural process and can inspire future applications in areas such as renewable energy and environmental remediation.
Protein Structures Aren’t Set in Stone
A new paper from Biosciences researchers in the Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, and the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) reveals the possibility that many of the proteins we thought we knew actually exist in other, unknown shapes.
JGI Extracts the Secrets of Secondary Metabolites
Microbial secondary metabolites, those molecules not essential for growth yet essential for survival, may now be easier to characterize following a JGI proof-of-concept study in which researchers paired CRISPR and CRAGE technologies. CRAGE (developed by a JGI team led by Yasuo Yoshikuni) offers CRISPR a point of entry into microbes that it previously lacked. Then, by using CRISPR to knock out or activate genes, researchers at the JGI were able to monitor loss- and gain-of-function, with the analytical data showing peaks and valleys in secondary metabolites as genes are edited. The pairing proved to rapidly confirm enhanced production of 22 metabolites from six biosynthetic gene clusters. One of those was a metabolite from a previously uncharacterized biosynthetic gene cluster. Learn more on the JGI website.
Exploring Microbes in Arctic Soils
Neslihan Taş, a research scientist with the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area who is affiliated with the Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, is studying how microbial processes shift as arctic permafrost melts. She’s working with the BSISB team to leverage infrared tools to reveal new patterns in biogeochemical cycles.
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