NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biological Informatics for FY 2000

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This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biological Informatics for FY-2000.The research and training plan are in the area of evolution of development and is entitled "Evolutionary Rate and Pattern in Developmentally-regulated Genes in Malaria and Related Parasites." Malaria parasites (Plasmodium) and some other members of their phylum, Apicomplexa, have nuclear ribsomal DNA with an unusual organization. Unlike most other eukaryotes, these protozoans have only a few, independently-evolving rDNA loci, and at least in malaria, these genes may be expressed only at specific times in the parasites' development. The goal of this research is to identify when in the evolutionary history of this phylum the peculiar organization of these genes arose as well as to examine in detail the rate and pattern of the evolution of these genes. Evolutionary genomics, structural biology, and the use of large databases of sequence data are among the bioinformatic approaches being used.