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Media Contacts
![One of the proteins identified through a new ORNL-developed approach could be key to communications between poplar trees and beneficial microbes that can help boost poplar trees’ growth, carbon storage and climate resilience. Credit: Andy Sproles/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-03/Kalluri%20story%20tip%20March%202023_0.png?h=0c488664&itok=qs9pgkW3)
ORNL researchers have identified specific proteins and amino acids that could control bioenergy plants’ ability to identify beneficial microbes that can enhance plant growth and storage of carbon in soils.
![ORNL’s Adam Guss began adapting the SAGE gene editing tool to modify microbes in graduate school. Today, SAGE is rapidly accelerating the design of custom microbes for a variety of applications. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-03/GussPetri_2021-P05223_0.png?h=82f92a78&itok=tqHo8Y9C)
A DNA editing tool adapted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists makes engineering microbes for everything from bioenergy production to plastics recycling easier and faster.
![Hybrid poplar trees such as these shown in an ORNL greenhouse were engineered with the REVEILLE1 gene to delay dormancy and produce more biomass. The research was led by the Center for Bioenergy Innovation at ORNL with the Joint Genome Institute, Brookhaven National Laboratory, the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, the University of Connecticut and other partners. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-01/PopulusTrees_0.jpg?h=82f92a78&itok=sguDcjBI)
A team of scientists led by ORNL discovered the gene in agave that governs when the plant goes dormant and used it to create poplar trees that nearly doubled in size, increasing biomass yield for biofuels production
![Planting native grasses such as the bioenergy crop switchgrass can restore habitat for birds like this Eastern kingbird. Credit: Chris Lituma/West Virginia University](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-11/Eastern%20Kingbird-2_0.jpg?h=50440fcc&itok=47pCnCan)
An analysis by Oak Ridge National Laboratory shows that using less-profitable farmland to grow bioenergy crops such as switchgrass could fuel not only clean energy, but also gains in biodiversity.
![An ORNL research team has incorporated important effects from microbially-active hot spots near streams into models that track the movement of nutrients and contaminants in river networks. The integrated model better tracks water quality indicators and facilitates new science. Credit: Adam Malin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-10/Watershed_multiscale_modeling_0.jpg?h=10fcaeb3&itok=CwmWoFtv)
A new modeling capability developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory incorporates important biogeochemical processes happening in river corridors for a clearer understanding of how water quality will be impacted by climate change, land use and
![Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Data Center in Crested Butte, Colorado.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-11/ARM%20Colorado%20SAIL_Small.jpg?h=fa8bcf81&itok=bo3M5gPt)
New data hosted through the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Data Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will help improve models that predict climate change effects on the water supply in the Colorado River Basin.
![The ectomycorrhizal fungus Laccaria bicolor, shown in green, envelops the roots of a transgenic switchgrass plant. Switchgrass is not known to interact with this type of fungi naturally; the added PtLecRLK1 gene tells the plant to engage the fungus. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-09/fungi_switchgrass_0.png?h=4bcd3c64&itok=6SCoAprD)
An ORNL team has successfully introduced a poplar gene into switchgrass, an important biofuel source, that allows switchgrass to interact with a beneficial fungus, ultimately boosting the grass’ growth and viability in changing environments.
![Fine roots from a larch tree peek out from a pile of peat excavated from an experimental warming plot in the SPRUCE experiment in Northern Minnesota. Credit: Colleen Iversen/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-09/Larch%20roots_0.jpg?h=71976bb4&itok=WYJjhB98)
New data hosted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory is helping scientists around the world understand the secret lives of plant roots as well as their impact on the global carbon cycle and climate change.
![Researchers at Colorado State University and ORNL evaluated 14 urban megaregions to simulate the effects of climate change on water resources. Credit: CSU/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-09/hydrology_map03_Kao_0.png?h=06037b31&itok=y1CKG8fX)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory worked with Colorado State University to simulate how a warming climate may affect U.S. urban hydrological systems.
![A 3D printed thermal protection shield, produced by ORNL researchers for NASA, is part of a cargo spacecraft bound for the International Space Station. The shield was printed at the Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-07/Sanded5.jpg?h=dce12e0c&itok=_8wzeG94)
A research team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have 3D printed a thermal protection shield, or TPS, for a capsule that will launch with the Cygnus cargo spacecraft as part of the supply mission to the International Space Station.