NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2014

Wright Robert C, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

NSF Postdoctoral Fellowships in Biology combine research and training components to prepare young scientists for careers in emerging areas where biology intersects with other scientific disciplines, in this case with engineering and statistics. The Fellows are expected to be leaders of the nation's scientific workforce of the future. This fellowship to Dr. Clay Wright supports research on how certain signaling molecules in plants have evolved to perceive distinctive developmental and environmental conditions and mediate dramatically different responses. The host institution for this fellowship is The University of Washington; sponsoring scientists are Drs. Jennifer Nemhauser and Eric Klavins . The Fellow's training goals include learning techniques and approaches of molecular evolution and plant biology, with emphasis on analytical and quantitative aspects. His outreach activities include training and mentoring graduate and undergraduate students and outreach to the public and educators through established programs, such as the Pacific Science Center?s Science Cafés and Expanding Your Horizons, and creating teaching materials. The family of F-box-containing proteins has expanded significantly relative to other gene families throughout the evolution of modern plants. In plants, F-box proteins mediate numerous developmental responses to constantly changing environmental stimuli. Thus the expansion of the F-box family may reflect the ability of these proteins to rapidly evolve new specificities, creating novel signaling modules, and allowing plants to adapt when confronted with challenges such as drought, nutrient limitation, or new predators. This is being tested through quantitative analysis of the molecular evolution of F-box-containing plant hormone receptors. Very large sets of both prospective ancestral plant hormone receptor variants and chimeric variants of the two current plant hormone receptors are being created and functionally characterized using protein engineering techniques. This characterization is expected to provide insight into the development of diversity and specificity within the F-box family. Variants of particular interest are being introduced into plants to assess their effects on plant evolution. Additionally, the protein engineering platform developed in this work is expected to lead to the development of new F-box proteins. Such F-box proteins can be used as signaling modules to enhance the production of economically valuable crops, fuels, chemicals, biologicals, and pharmaceuticals. Applications of synthetic biology in this manner have increased access to food and medicine, while reducing cost, waste, and dependence on fossil fuels.