Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Microbial Biology for FY 2002

Gibson Katherine E, Stanford CA

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 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 "Symbiotic regulation and function of proteins in Sinorhizobium melilota Outer Membrane." Sinorhizobium melilota, a gram negative bacterium, and the legume Medicago truncatula are partners in a symbiosis that requires coordinated differentiation for productive nodulation. This research seeks to identify bacterial outer membrane proteins (OMPs) differentially expressed in plant-associated bacteroids compared to free-living bacteria, to be followed by a genetic and physiological analyses of the role these proteins play at the interface of the bacterium and plant. This will ehnhance our understanding of the complex metabolic coupling between bacteria and plant required for nitrogen fixation.