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page-title: Genomes to Life: Putting Microbes to Work
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Genomes to Life: Putting Microbes
to Work

Genomics and Its Impact on Science and Society: The Human
Genome Project and Beyond

Primer - History - Insights -
Medicine
- Benefits - Concerns -
Beyond - Systems - Microbes - Dictionary - Home

 Methanococcus
jannaschii
Produces methane, an important energy source; contains enzymes that
withstand high temperatures and pressures; possibly useful for
industrial processes.

 Deinococcus
radiodurans
Survives extremely high levels of radiation and has high potential
for radioactive waste cleanup.

 Thalassiosira
pseudonana
Ocean diatom that is major participant in biological pumping of
carbon to ocean depths and has potential for mitigating global
climate change.

 The DOE Microbial Genome
Program
 (MGP) studies the DNA of microbes that may be useful in helping
DOE fulfill its missions in energy production, environmental waste
cleanup, and mitigation of the effects of global climate change.
(For more information, see MGP Web site (www.ornl.gov/microbialgenomes/ (http://www.ornl.gov/microbialgenomes/)).

 

A Potential Application of Knowledge Gained in GTL
Research
  Learning about the
inner workings of microbes can lead to discovery of ways to isolate
and use their components to develop new, synthetic nanostructures
that carry out some of the functions of living cells. 

In this figure, an
enzyme (green) has been embedded in a synthetic membrane that
enhances its activity and stability. The enzyme transforms toxic
substances (purple molecules at left) to harmless by-products
(yellow and red molecules at right). [C. Lei, Y. Shin, J. Liu, and
E. J. Ackerman (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory), J. Am.
Chem. Soc. 124, 11242–43 (2002)]

The knowledge gained from
Genomes to Life research could enable others to develop efficient
enzyme-based ways to produce energy, remove or inactivate
contaminants, and store carbon to mitigate global climate change.
Other potential highly useful applications are food processing,
pharmaceuticals, separations, and the production of industrial
chemicals.

Primer - History - Insights -
Medicine
- Benefits - Concerns -
Beyond - Systems - Microbes - Dictionary - Home

 The online presentation of this publication is a special
feature of the Human Genome
Project Information Web site (http://www.ornl.gov/TechResources/Human_Genome/).

