U. S. Germany Cooperative Research: Phage-type RNA Polymerase(s) and Organellar Transcription in Chlamydomonas

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0089253SternThis award supports David Stern and students from the Boyce Thompson Institute of Cornell University in a collaboration Andreas Weihe of Department of Biology at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. The project will focus on plant organelle ribonucleic acid polymerases (RNAPs) of apparently viral origin. The collaboration brings together unique expertise and facilities: the German laboratory specializes in the requisite molecular tools and the U.S. laboratory in organism-specific techniques. The project was begun by the isolation of an RNAP gene from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, and initial data indicates that the species might not contain a viral RNAP in its chloroplast, but only in the mitochondria. The specific objective of the research in the next couple of years will be to determine definitively the subcellular localization of the protein encoded by the already cloned nuclear gene, to search for additional homologues, to see conclusively if a viral type RNAP exists in Chlamydomonas chloroplasts, and to investigate transcriptional regulation in mitochondria. Exchange of junior researchers is emphasized to add an international dimension to their training and to allow them to establish international connections early in their careers.