Science Highlights | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

Researchers determined the nitrogen source preference of different ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms by growing cells in an ammonia-urea mixture with nitrogen-15 labeled urea or ammonia and imaging labeled cells with NanoSIMS.

Different Microorganisms Have a Taste for Different Flavors of Ammonia

Research on ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms reshapes scientists’ perspective on those microbes’ physiology and ecological niche.

Bacteria can be evaluated in different plant root microenvironments (a) using microscope images of bacteria in root hairs with classical light (b) and using 100,000-fold lower quantum light colors (c) that avoid light damage.

Seeing the Color of Entangled Photons in Molecular Systems

Entangled photons reveal completely different information about an organic molecule than traditional spectroscopy techniques.

Artist’s representation of bacteriophages, the most abundant biological entities on earth. Researchers used a new CRISPR-based technology to characterize two model phages and demonstrate the potential to extend the approach to diverse phages.

Deciphering the Functions Encoded in Phage Genomes

Scientists create a genome-wide map of gene activity in bacteriophages.

Like desert wildflowers that bloom after rain, soil bacteria have evolved life strategies that determine when and where they grow. Having a small, streamlined genome may help some bacteria survive in dry soils.

Soil Bacteria Link their Life Strategies to Soil Conditions

Assessing the genomes of soil bacteria around the globe, researchers identified three dominant life strategies linked to different types of soil.

This image shows Bisophere 2 (a), which houses a tropical rainforest (b) where researchers performed an ecosystem-scale drought experiment. Researchers labeled the soil (c) to track the release of carbon dioxide and volatile organic compounds.

During Droughts, Soil Microbes Produce Volatile Carbon Metabolites

In a warmer world, microbes in drought-stricken soils convert less carbon to carbon dioxide and more to volatile intermediates.

Images of Yarrowia lipolytica surrounding and growing on polyolefin oil droplets (large red circles). Cells were stained blue to show the chitin cell walls and red to show the lipid bodies inside the cells and the oil droplets outside the cells.

Yeast Uses Plastic Waste Oils to Make High-Value Chemicals

Yarrowia lipolytica reallocates its production of protein toward energy and lipid metabolism to grow on hydrocarbons and produce high-value chemicals.

Left: Scanning electron microscope and X-ray (EDX) images of microbe consortia (yellow) and silica (blue). Right: transmission electron microscope image of microbe consortia with silica spheres of silica.

Scientists Confirm that Methane-Processing Microbes Produce a Fossil Record

Microorganisms and their metabolisms help silica to mineralize near deep ocean methane seeps.

The interior of the SPRUCE experimental chamber showing instruments to monitor climate changes.

In Peatland Soil, a Warmer Climate and Elevated Carbon Dioxide Rapidly Alter Soil Organic Matter

Experiments find increased temperatures and carbon dioxide rapidly altered peatland carbon stocks, highlighting peatlands’ vulnerability to climate change.

A novel method improves the accuracy of the CRISPR Cas9 gene editing tool scientists use to modify microbes for renewable fuels and chemicals production. It draws on quantum chemistry, artificial intelligence, and synthetic biology.

How the Quantum World Can Help Scientists Engineer Biology

Improving genome engineering with quantum biology and artificial intelligence.

High-Throughput Chromosome Conformation Capture technology allowed scientists to detect bacteriophage-host infection networks and how they varied between dry and wet soil.

Researchers Directly Detect Interactions Between Viruses and their Bacterial Hosts in Soils

The first application of High-Throughput Chromosome Conformation Capture (Hi-C) Metagenome Sequencing to soil captures phage-host interactions at the time of sampling.

Surprising Strategies: Scientists Quantify the Activity of Algal-Associated Bacteria at the Microscale

High resolution isotope analysis of the algal microbiome identifies ecological strategies not predicted by genome content.

A bacterial virus inserting genetic material inside a bacterial cell during infection.

Creating a Virus-Resistant Bacterium Using a Synthetic Engineered Genome

Scientists engineered a model bacterium's genetic code to make it virus-resistant and unable to exchange genetic material or grow without special media.