In this episode, undergraduates adopt genomes that the JGI sequenced, but never published in the literature. These students analyze the genomes, write reports, and publish first-author papers, making the data available for future research.

Hear from Rekha Seshadri (JGI) and Matt Escobar (California State San Marcos) about how the Adopt-A-Genome project got started. Plus, Kalyani Maitra (California State Fresno) and two students, Angela and Mark Soghomonian share what it was like to take on one of these genomes.

Links from this episode:

• Submit your own proposal to work with the JGI
• Episode Transcript

• For more information about Adopt-A-Genome:
  • Rekha Seshadri: rseshadri@lbl.gov
  • Matt Escobar: mescobar@csusm.edu

• Adopt-A-Genome Papers:
  • Draft genome sequence of Nitrobacter vulgaris DSM 10236T
  • Draft genome sequences of Butyrivibrio hungatei DSM 14810 (JK 615T) and Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens DSM 3071 (D1T)
  • Genome sequences of key bacterial symbionts of entomopathogenic nematodes: Xenorhabdus cabanillasii DSM17905, Xenorhabdus ehlersii DSM16337, Xenorhabdus japonica DSM16522, Xenorhabdus koppenhoeferii DSM18168, and Xenorhabdus mauleonii DSM17908

• Our contact info:
  • X: @JGI
  • Email: jgi-comms at lbl dot gov

Kasey Markel and Patrick Shih (UC Berkeley and the Joint BioEnergy Institute) are looking for new ways to engineer plants. So they’ve looked into wasps that program oak trees to grow structures called galls.

In this episode, hear from Kasey and Patrick about how this project unfolded, and how they worked with the JGI's metabolomics program to find out more about these weird little pods.

Links from this episode:

• Submit your own proposal to work with the JGI
• Join us at the 2024 JGI User Meeting

• Episode Transcript
• Paper: Cynipid wasps systematically reprogram host metabolism and restructure cell walls in developing galls

• Our contact info:
  • Twitter: @JGI
  • Email: jgi-comms at lbl dot gov

• Sound effects credits:
  • oars.wav by hazure
  • Parma Park Bird Song with Stream.WAV by muneio

To engineer yeast to do more, and understand genomes in general, Jef Boeke, Weimin Zhang (NYU Langone Health) and Leslie Mitchell (Neochromosome) have worked to replace yeast’s native chromosomes with synthetic versions. This project has turned out to be an international collaboration, with some artistic endeavors along the way. Eventually, the goal is to create an entirely human-generated yeast genome.

Links from this episode:

• Submit your own proposal to work with the JGI
• Join us at the 2024 JGI User Meeting

• Episode Transcript
• Paper: Manipulating the 3D organization of the largest synthetic yeast chromosome
• NYU Release: Researchers Assemble Nine Synthetic Yeast Chromosomes

• Our contact info:
  • X: @JGI
  • Email: jgi-comms at lbl dot gov