Critical genetic secrets of a bacterium that holds potential for removing toxic and radioactive waste from the environment have been revealed in a study led by Berkeley Lab researchers. The researchers have created a first-of-its-kind gene map of Desulfovibrio vulgaris, which can be used to identify the genes that determine how these bacteria interact with their surrounding environment.

Researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute have developed the first genome-scale model for predicting the functions of genes and gene networks in a grass species. Called RiceNet, this systems-level model of rice gene interactions should help speed the development of new crops for the production of advanced biofuels, as well as help boost the production and improve the quality of one of the world’s most important food staples.

Berkeley Lab researchers have won four DOE Office of Science Early Career Research Program awards, in the second year of the planned annual award program. The five-year, $2.5 million awards are intended to support young scientists in the formative stages of their careers. The winners were chosen from over a thousand applicants by outside scientific experts.

As part of the National Institutes of Health’s “model organism Encyclopedia of DNA Elements” (modENCODE) project, Berkeley Lab researchers have made major advances in understanding the complex relationships between the Drosophila genome as recorded by DNA and RNA base pairs and the patterns and physical organization of its chromosomes, both essential for producing a functioning fruit fly. These new insights into reading the genome apply to human beings and many other organisms as well.

Using protein crystallography beamlines at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source, a team of researchers has resolved the atomic-scale crystal structure of an enzyme called “Csy4” that plays a key role in a microbial immune system. The research provides important new clues to the fundamental role of RNA in the evolution of life.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has been awarded $12.8 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research into cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, radioactive decontamination and a variety of other health conditions.

What does uncovering the true authorship of plays attributed to Shakespeare have to do with identifying our genetic ancestors or classifying new life forms? All involve the comparative analysis of long sets of data and all will benefit from a unique new analytical tool developed by researchers at Berkeley Lab called “feature frequency profiles.”

An innovative DNA microarray developed at Berkeley Lab is shedding light on what’s killing the world’s coral reefs. The tool, which catalogs the swings in microbial populations associated with disease, may help scientists learn how to preserve one of the ocean’s most important denizens.

Integrated Microbial Genomics with Microbiome Samples (IMG/M) is a powerful computational tool for understanding metagenomics, the collective genomes of communities of microorganisms. IMG/M will soon be expanded to include metagenomic data from humans, opening insights into how microbial communities in the human body maintain, threaten, or otherwise affect our health.

Berkeley Lab scientists have analyzed the remarkable genome of a bacterium constituting the first single-species ecosystem. Desulforudis audaxviator was discovered 2.8 kilometers beneath the surface of the earth in a South African gold mine, where it exists in complete isolation, total darkness, a lack of oxygen, and 60-degree-Celsius heat.