Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY 2003

Bortiri, Esteban, San Francisco CA

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY2003. The goal of the fellowship is to increase the participation of minority scientists at the postdoctoral level and to prepare them for positions of scientific leadership in academia and industry. To attain this goal, the fellowship provides opportunities for postdoctoral training and research of the highest quality to recent doctoral recipients. It is expected that Fellows supported through these fellowships will play important roles in training of the future workforce. The research and training plan is entitled "Cloning and characterization of ramosa2, a gene that controls inflorescence development in maize." Ramosa2 is a gene that controls inflorescence development in maize. It will be cloned by transposon tagging or positional cloning and its expression studied using in situ hibridization. A comparison with similar genes from maize and other grasses will provide clues into the mechanism of evolution of ramosa2-related genes and their effect on plant morphology.