Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Microbial Biology for FY2001

Connolly, Mary S, Whitehouse OH

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Microbial Biology for FY2001. The fellowship supports training and research on the basic biology of protozoan, microalgal, fungal, archaeal, bacterial and viral species that are not generally considered to be model organisms. Further, it provides opportunities for a recent doctoral recipients to obtain additional training in microbial biology, to gain research experience under the sponsorship of established scientists, and to broaden his/her scientific horizons beyond the research experiences during the undergraduate and graduate training. These fellowships are further designed to assist new scientists to direct their research efforts across traditional disciplinary lines and to avail themselves of unique research resources, sites, and facilities, including foreign locations. The research and training plan is entitled "Effects of bacterial signal mimic compounds produced by pea plants on the nitrogen-fixing symbiont Rhizobium leguminosarum." Cell-to-cell signaling within a bacterial population, "quorum sensing," plays a major role in bacterial growth, survival, and host-microbe interactions. The sponsoring scientists have shown that peas secrete "signal mimics," compounds which interact specifically with bacterial quorum-sensing receptors. This is a comprehensive study of quorum-sensing-regulated gene expression in Rhizobium leguminosarum, by determining the effects of pea signal mimics on gene expression, behavior, diversity, and viability in the rhizosphere.