On April 24-25, in the spirit of both Earth Day and National DNA Day, DOE JGI will host a Microbial Genomics Workshop geared toward revealing the rest of the story--the bioinformatics end--to educators who may then spread the word in their classrooms and inspire students to pursue careers in this burgeoning field. A team of DOE JGI researchers will demonstrate the computational methods that they and their collaborators around the world use to harness the potential of the largely untapped microbial world for the development of clean bioenergy alternatives, a better understanding of the global carbon cycle, and novel bioremediation applications.
Microbes, the oldest and most abundant form of life on Earth, inhabit nearly every environment and can thrive under extreme conditions of heat, cold, pressure, and radiation. Although microbes represent the vast majority of life on the planet, more than 99% have not been cultured, so their genomic diversity has gone largely unrecognized and unutilized.
Starting with an animated overview of the sequencing process, workshop participants, armed with laptop computers, will explore the tools that enable the order and assembly of the DNA fragments into strands that serve as starting material for the search for genes and other important features in microbial genomes.
The workshop will also touch on the newly launched Integrated Microbial Genomes for metagenomic data (IMG/M), through such case studies as the isolation and study of the microbial community within the hindgut of the termite, one of nature's most powerful bioreactors for the production of hydrogen. Metagenomics refers to the emerging discipline of isolating, sequencing, and characterizing DNA extracted directly from environmental samples--to obtain a metabolic profile of the microbial community residing in a particular niche.
For more information about the Workshop, contact DOE JGI Public Affairs Manager David Gilbert at email@example.com or 925-296-5643.
Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Feb 2009
Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.