NSF/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Molecular Evolution for FY 1998

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Abstract DBI-9803938 Dawn Field This action funds an NSF/Alfred P. Sloan Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Molecular Evolution for 1998. These fellowships support studies involving the theoretical, comparative, computational, and/or experimental analyses of biological patterns and processes at the molecular level within the framework of organismic evolutionary change and adaptation. These studies also include the use of molecular data to address broader evolutionary questions. Each fellowship supports a research and training plan to be carried out in a sponsoring laboratory. The research and training plan for this fellowship is entitled adaptive molecular evolution of a bacterial pathogen. Thirteen mutable repeats (microsatellites) are embedded within virulence factors in Haemophilus. influenzae. This study tests the hypothesis that genetic variability at these repeats is an important factor in determining the evolutionary success of individual isolates of this bacterium. One hundred twenty epidemiologically diverse strains of H. influenzae are being genotyped, and rates of mutation determined.