Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 248 / Thursday, December 27, 2001 / Notices 66891

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Science; Office of Biological

and Environmental Research;

Recommendations for Sequencing

Targets in Support of the Microbial

Genome Program and the Genomes to

Life Program

AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy

(DOE).

ACTION: Recommendations for

sequencing targets.

SUMMARY: This Federal Register Notice

seeks the input and nominations of

interested parties for candidate

microbes and candidate microbial

communities, for draft genomic

sequencing in support of the Microbial

Genome Program (MGP) and the

Genomes to Life (GTL) Program.

Candidate microbes and microbial

communities should be relevant to DOE

mission needs, e.g., microbes involved

in environmental processes, including

waste remediation, carbon management,

energy production, and biodefense. This

announcement is not an offer of direct

financial support for research on these

microbes. Those nominations selected

will result in the DNA sequence of

selected microbes being determined at a

draft level (6–8 X coverage) at the DOE

Production Genomics Facility (PGF) at

the Joint Genome Institute (JGI),

(http://www.jgi.doe.gov). This

announcement is designed to assist DOE

in determining and prioritizing a list of

microbes, or microbial consortia that

address DOE mission needs. Following

merit review, and subject to the

availability of funding and

programmatic relevance, draft

sequencing will be carried out at the

PGF.

DATES: To assure consideration,

nominations in response to this notice

should be received by 4:30 p.m. (EST),

March 28, 2002, to be accepted for merit

review. It is anticipated that review will

be completed early in the summer of

2002 with draft sequencing at the DOE

PGF to commence later in 2002, but not

before high quality DNA has been

provided.

ADDRESSES: Written nominations

responding to this notice should be sent

to Dr. Daniel W. Drell, Office of

Biological and Environmental Research,

SC–72, Office of Science, U.S.

Department of Energy, 19901

Germantown Road, Germantown, MD

20874–1290; e-mail is acceptable for

submitting nominations using the

following addresses:

joanne.corcoran@science.doe.gov and

daniel.drell@science.doe.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr.

Daniel W. Drell, SC–72, Office of

Biological and Environmental Research,

Office of Science, U.S. Department of

Energy, 19901 Germantown Road,

Germantown, MD 20874–1290, phone:

(301) 903–4742, e-mail:

daniel.drell@science.doe.gov. The full

text of this notice is available via the

Internet using the following Web site

addresses: http://doegenomestolife.org

and http://www.sc.doe.gov/ober/

microbial.html.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The MGP

supports key DOE business areas by

providing and analyzing microbial DNA

sequence information to further the

understanding and application of

microbiology relating to energy

production, chemical and materials

production, environmental carbon

management, environmental cleanup,

and biodefense. The GTL Program

builds on the successes of the DOE

Human Genome Program (HGP) by

seeking to understand biological

functioning with emphases on

identifying the multi-component protein

complexes in cells, characterizing gene

regulatory networks, probing the

functional capabilities of the

environmental microbial repertoire of

genes, and beginning to model these

processes computationally. A major goal

is to support research on microbes that

address DOE Office of Biological and

Environmental Research (BER) missions

and programs. Relevant BER programs

may include Terrestrial and Ocean

Carbon Sequestration, the Natural and

Accelerated Bioremediation Research

(NABIR) Program, the Biotechnological

Investigation of Ocean Margins Program

(BI–OMP), the Microbial Genome

Program (MGP), the Genomes to Life

(GTL) program, and the National

Nuclear Security Administration’s

Chemical and Biological National

Security Program.

These programs are natural

outgrowths of past and current BER

Programs, including DNA sequencing

from the HGP, structural biology studies

utilizing BER-supported facilities at

synchrotron and neutron sources

located at DOE laboratories, and

molecular microbiological research

supported by BER environmental

programs. These programs benefit from,

and provide new scientific challenges

to, the DOE national laboratories, the

DOE and National Institutes of Health

(NIH) Human Genome Centers, the U. S.

Department of Agriculture (USDA), the

National Science Foundation (NSF), the

National Center for Biotechnology

Information (NCBI) at the NIH, and the

capabilities of universities and nonprofit organizations.

Over the last 5 years, sequencing of a

range of microorganisms that live in a

wide diversity of environments has

provided considerable information base

for scientific research related not only to

DOE missions, but also to other federal

agency missions and U.S. industry.

(http://www.tigr.org/tdb/mdb/

mdbcomplete.html http://www.ornl.gov/

microbialgenomes/organisms.html and

http://www.jgi.doe.gov/JGI_microbial/

html/). Nonetheless, most of our current

knowledge of microbiology still is

derived from individual species that

either cause diseases or grow easily and

readily as monocultures under

laboratory conditions and are thus easy

to study. The preponderance of species

in the environment remains largely

unknown to science. Most are thought

to grow as part of interdependent

consortia in which one species supplies

a nutrient necessary for the growth of

another. Virtually nothing is known of

the organization, membership, or

functioning of these consortia,

especially those involved in

environmental processes in which DOE

is interested.

A related issue emerging from genome

sequence analyses is the need to

develop a better understanding of

relatedness or phylogeny using

genomics as a tool. Genomic analyses of

sequenced microbes have suggested that

processes such as lateral gene transfers

early in the evolutionary history of some

microbial ‘‘species’’ have blurred this

understanding, and therefore the

phylogeny, among microorganisms that

had been thought to have known

relationships. For this notice, groups of

microbes that are thought to have a

species relationship can be proposed to

explore what the concept of a microbial

species entails and how much sequence

divergence defines different species.

Genomic analyses of microbial

consortia, and of those species that have

proven refractory to laboratory culture,

but are either plentiful in environments

challenged with chemical

contamination, metals, and/or

radionuclide wastes, or involved in

carbon sequestration are badly needed.

These are expected to be the most

challenging studies. The candidate(s)

must mediate or catalyze metabolic

events of energy or environmental

importance. Priority will be given to

studies on those microbes or microbial

consortia that can bioremediate metals

and radionuclides, that can degrade

significant biopolymers such as

celluloses and lignins, or that produce

potentially useful energy-related

materials (H2, CH4,, ethanol, etc.), or that

66892 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 248 / Thursday, December 27, 2001 / Notices

are involved in environmental carbon

management, e.g., fix or sequester CO2,.

An additional interest of this notice is

microbes that are phylogenetically

related to potential biowarfare (BW)

threat agents. The Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention defines three

categories of BW threats (see at http://

www.bt.cdc.gov/Agent/Agentlist.asp).

DOE encourages nominations to

sequence microbes or groups of

microbes related to the category A and

B agents.

For this notice, candidate

microorganisms, either individual

microbes, groups of microbes, or a

consortia of microbes, for draft

sequencing can comprise archaea,

bacteria, fungi or eukaryotic microbes

with genome sizes <60 Mbp, or

communities made up of these same

types of microbes. For a current list of

microbes that have been and are being

sequenced see http://www.ornl.gov/

microbial genomes/organisms.html.

Aims: This request for nominations of

candidate microbial sequencing targets

has two broad foci:

(1) Single culturable organisms. The

criteria that will be used to evaluate

proposed candidates for draft

sequencing will include:

(a) The candidate is likely to have

significant relevance to the DOE

missions noted above;

(b) The genome size and structure are

known;

(c) The source of genomic DNA (i.e.,

strain or isolate, and researcher) is

identified;

(d) A brief description of post

sequencing follow-up work (e.g., a data

use plan and how will data be annotated

to enable rapid and open use) is

included;

(e) The availability of a DNA/gene

transfer system supporting genetic

analyses is known;

(f) Biological novelty or uniqueness

(i.e., unusual genetically determined

characteristics pertinent to DOE

missions) is described;

(g) Place in the currently understood,

16s RNA based, ‘‘Tree of Life’’ is

identified, e.g., is the proposed

candidate in a sparsely populated or

more heavily populated section of the

tree?

(h) A brief description of the user

community is given;

(i) The potential impact on the

scientific community is large;

(j) Explicit commitment to datarelease policy given below is provided.

(2) Currently unculturable or hard-toculture microbes and environmental

consortia. The review criteria that will

be used to evaluate proposed candidates

for draft sequencing will include most

of the criteria listed above for single

culturable organisms (with less

emphasis on genome size/structure,

presence/absence of a genetic system, or

position in the ‘‘Tree of Life’’ since it is

recognized that few data on these

attributes will be available), but in

addition, the following considerations

will be included:

(a) Some measure of the ‘‘complexity’’

of the target community is proposed,

e.g., approximate number of species,

size(s) of genomes, and proportions of

different community members (it is

understood that in most cases, only

estimates of these parameters may be

available);

(b) Past attempts to cultivate

community members are described, e.g.,

have any members of this community

been successfully cultured;

(c) Some spatial/temporal/

geochemical characterization of the

environment is given, e.g., the

physicochemical parameters of the site

from which the selected community is

derived; a description of the site

contaminants; the accessibility of the

site for future sampling; the adequacy of

site documentation;

(d) If proposed, technical approaches

and technology development specific

for defining and isolating members of a

given community are described;

(e) Some indication of the biological

function of the consortial relationships

where available along with a discussion

of the scientific and programmatic

importance of understanding these

relationships;

(f) Information where available about

the phylogenetic affinities of the

members of the consortia and what is

known about the closely related

organisms.

(g) Available informatics tools and

annotation plan (e.g. for annotating

genes from a community analysis or

grouping identified genes into a putative

‘‘community phenotype’’ within the

chosen environment).

Usual and customary practice is for

the JGI to put all sequencing data up on

its web site (http://www.jgi.doe.gov/) at

frequent and periodic intervals. DOE

expects that the Principal Investigators

(PI) will collaborate with the JGI and

assist in annotating the draft sequence

data. Following data acquisition and

annotation, DOE expects that those

whose nominations have been

sequenced will make good faith efforts

to publish in the open scientific

literature the results of their subsequent

work, including both the genome

sequences of microbes sequenced under

this notice as well as the annotation.

These parties are encouraged to create

process- and cost-effective partnerships

that will maximize data production and

analysis, data dissemination, and

progress towards understanding basic

biological mechanisms that can further

the aims of this effort. Additionally, it

must be explicitly understood that DOE

will provide an assembled and

computationally annotated ‘‘draft’’

(roughly 8 x; carried out in a paired-end

sequencing approach) sequence of the

microbe(s) selected, but that research

using that sequence data should be

funded from separate sources and/or

separate solicitations. This draft

sequence is provided, without use

restrictions, to the scientific community

at large for any and all subsequent

research purposes. (DOE data release

requirements, a condition of any award,

are available at: http://www.sc.doe.gov/

ober/EPR/data.html)

Submission Information: Interested

parties should submit a brief white

paper, consisting of not more than 5

pages of narrative exclusive of

attachments (which are discouraged)

responding to the criteria set forth

above. It is expected that the PI will

serve as the main point of contact for

additional information on the

nominated microbe. Nominations must

contain a very short abstract or project

summary and a cover page with the

name of the applicant, mailing address,

phone, fax, and e-mail. The nomination

should include 2-page curriculum vitae

of the key investigators; letters of intent

from collaborators (suggesting the size

of the interested community) are

permitted.

Nominations will be reviewed relative

to the scope and research needs of the

BER Microbial Genome and Genomes to

Life Programs. A brief response to each

nomination will be provided following

merit and programmatic reviews.

Other useful web sites include:

Microbial Genome Program Home

Page—http://www.sc.doe.gov/ober/

microbial.html

DOE Joint Genome Institute Microbial

Web Page—http://www.jgi.doe.gov/

JGI_microbial/html/

GenBank Home Page—http://

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

Human Genome Home Page—http://

www.ornl.gov/hgmis

DOE Genomes to Life—http://

DOEGenomestoLife.org

DOE Natural and Accelerated

Bioremediation Research (NABIR)

Program—http://www.lbl.gov/nabir

Biotechnology Investigations—Ocean

Margins Program—http://

www.sc.doe.gov/ober/GC/omp.html

Chemical and Biological National

Security Program— http://

www.nn.doe.gov/cbnp/

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 248 / Thursday, December 27, 2001 / Notices 66893

Issued in Washington, DC.

John Rodney Clark,

Associate Director of Science for Resource

Management.

[FR Doc. 01–31717 Filed 12–26–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket No. EC02–34–000] and Ameren

Energy Resources Company; Notice of

Filing

Central Illinois Public Service

Company

December 19, 2001.

Take notice that on December 13,

2001, Central Illinois Public Service

Company (AmerenCIPS) and Ameren

Energy Resources Company (Resources

Company) (collectively, the Applicants)

filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission an application for an order

pursuant to section 203 of the Federal

Power Act authorizing AmerenCIPS to

transfer to Resources Company its 20%

common stock interest in Electric

Energy, Inc. (EEInc.).

The Applicants state that the

transaction simply involves an internal

reorganization within Ameren Corp. and

will not have an adverse effect on

competition, will not have an adverse

effect on rates, and will not have an

adverse effect on competition.

Any person desiring to be heard or to

protest such filing should file a motion

to intervene or protest with the Federal

Energy Regulatory Commission, 888

First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426,

in accordance with Rules 211 and 214

of the Commission’s rules of practice

and procedure (18 CFR 385.211 and

385.214). All such motions and protests

should be filed on or before the

comment date. Protests will be

considered by the Commission to

determine the appropriate action to be

taken, but will not serve to make

protestants parties to the proceedings.

Any person wishing to become a party

must file a motion to intervene. Copies

of this filing are on file with the

Commission and are available for public

inspection. This filing may also be

viewed on the Commission’s Web site at

http://www.ferc.gov using the ‘‘RIMS’’

link, select ‘‘Docket#’’ and follow the

instructions (call 202–208–2222 for

assistance). Comments, protests and

interventions may be filed electronically

via the internet in lieu of paper. See, 18

CFR 385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the

instructions on the Commission’s Web

site under the ‘‘e-filing’’ link.

Comment Date: January 9, 2002.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 01–31685 Filed 12–26–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket No. RP02–121–000]

Eastern Shore Natural Gas Company;

Notice of Proposed Changes in FERC

Gas Tariff

December 19, 2001.

Take notice that on December 11,

2001, Eastern Shore Natural Gas

Company (ESNG) tendered for filing as

part of its FERC Gas Tariff, Second

Revised Volume No. 1, certain revised

tariff sheets listed on Appendix A to the

filing, with a proposed effective date of

January 1, 2002.

ESNG states that the purpose of this

instant filing is to track rate changes

attributable to a storage services

purchased from Columbia Gas

Transmission (Columbia) under its Rate

Schedules SST and FSS. The costs of

the above referenced storage service

comprises the rates and charges payable

under ESNG’s respective Rate Schedule

CFSS. This tracking filing is being made

pursuant to section 3 of ESNG’s Rate

Schedule CFSS.

ESNG states that copies of the filing

have been served upon its jurisdictional

customers and interested State

Commissions.

Any person desiring to be heard or to

protest said filing should file a motion

to intervene or a protest with the

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,

888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC

20426, in accordance with sections

385.214 or 385.211 of the Commission’s

rules and regulations. All such motions

or protests must be filed in accordance

with section 154.210 of the

Commission’s regulations. Protests will

be considered by the Commission in

determining the appropriate action to be

taken, but will not serve to make

protestants parties to the proceedings.

Any person wishing to become a party

must file a motion to intervene. Copies

of this filing are on file with the

Commission and are available for public

inspection. This filing may also be

viewed on the web at http://

www.ferc.gov using the ‘‘RIMS’’ link,

select ‘‘Docket#’’ and follow the

instructions (call 202–208–2222 for

assistance). Comments, protests and

interventions may be filed electronically

via the Internet in lieu of paper. See, 18

CFR 385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the

instructions on the Commission’s web

site under the ‘‘e-Filing’’ link.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 01–31689 Filed 12–26–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket No. RP02–122–000]

Kinder Morgan Interstate Gas

Transmission, LLC; Notice of

Reconciliation Report

December 19, 2001.

Take notice that on December 13,

2001, Kinder Morgan Interstate Gas

Transmission, LLC, (KMITG) tendered

for filing its annual reconciliation filing

pursuant to section 35 (Crediting of

Imbalance Revenue) of its General

Terms and Conditions of its FERC Gas

Tariff, Fourth Revised Volume No. 1–B.

KMIGT states that it has served copies

of its filing upon all jurisdictional

customers, interested State

Commissions, and other interested

parties.

Any person desiring to be heard or to

protest said filing should file a motion

to intervene or a protest with the

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,

888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC

20426, in accordance with sections

385.214 or 385.211 of the Commission’s

rules and regulations. All such motions

or protests must be filed on or before

December 26, 2001. Protests will be

considered by the Commission in

determining the appropriate action to be

taken, but will not serve to make

protestants parties to the proceedings.

Any person wishing to become a party

must file a motion to intervene. Copies

of this filing are on file with the

Commission and are available for public

inspection. This filing may also be

viewed on the web at http://

www.ferc.gov using the ‘‘RIMS’’ link,

select ‘‘Docket#’’ and follow the

instructions (call 202–208–2222 for

assistance). Comments, protests and

interventions may be filed electronically

via the Internet in lieu of paper. See, 18

CFR 385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the

instructions on the Commission’s web

site under the ‘‘e-Filing’’ link.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 01–31690 Filed 12–26–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P