Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Microbial Biology for FY 2002

Wertz, John C, New Haven CT

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Microbial Biology for FY2002. 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 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 "Have colicin type antibiotic genes evolved to increase their host bacteria's competitiveness, or are they selfish addictive genes?" Colicin type bacteriocins are believed to have evolved as allelopathic agents that confer a competitive advantage to bacterial strains that harbor them. This research investigates an alternative hypothesis that colicin plasmids are selfish elements and utilize a form of post segregational killing to insure their maintenance by host bacteria.