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

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.

Protein Structures Signal Fresh Targets for Anticancer Drugs

Three proteins work together to transmit signals for cell division, revealing new targets for cancer-fighting drugs.

Myo-inositol transporters affect colonization via cross-kingdom signaling. By exporting myo-inositol, plant cells trigger bacteria to swim toward the plant.

Signaling Across Kingdoms to Build the Plant Microbiome

Scientists discover a mechanism for plant-microbe interactions.

To Study Competition and Cross-Feeding, Scientists Build Synthetic Microbiomes

Modeling microbial interactions in synthetic communities offers insights into environmental processes.

Imaging Shows How Inorganic-Microbe Hybrids Use Light to Turn Carbon Dioxide into Bioplastic

Scientists develop a multimodal imaging approach to study microbe–semiconductor biohybrids at the single-cell to single-molecule level.

Scientists Build a Spatial Atlas of the Chloroplast Proteome, the Home of Photosynthesis

By collecting the locations of 1,000-plus chloroplast-associated proteins, the atlas offers insights into protein functions and chloroplast organization.