Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Microbial Biology for FY 2004

该行动为2004财年美国国家科学基金会微生物生物学博士后奖学金提供资金。该奖学金支持一般不被认为是模式生物的原生动物、微藻、真菌、古细菌、细菌和病毒物种的基本生物学培训和研究。此外，它为最近的博士学位获得者提供了在微生物生物学方面获得额外培训的机会，在知名科学家的赞助下获得研究经验，并在本科和研究生培训期间拓宽他们的科学视野。这些研究金的进一步目的是帮助新科学家指导他们的研究工作跨越传统的学科界线，并利用独特的研究资源、地点和设施，包括国外的地点。这项研究和培训计划的题目是“古生菌中的四醚脂质合成”。古细菌脂质具有独特的结构和功能，是一个重要的进化标志。提出的研究是针对在四醚脂合成途径的后期部分的关键酶的步骤阐明。生物信息学、分子遗传学、DNA微阵列和分析化学技术正被用于利用极度嗜酸的古菌酸铁原体来询问候选基因功能。本研究的重点是通过揭示古细菌合成膜脂的机制，研究古细菌是如何在pH值、温度和离子强度极端的环境中茁壮成长的。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Microbial biology for FY2004. The fellowship supports training and research on the basic biology of protozoan, microalgal, fungal, archaeal, bacterial and viral species that are not generally considered to be model organisms. Further, it provides opportunities for recent doctoral recipients to obtain additional training in microbial biology, to gain research experience under the sponsorship of established scientists, and to broaden their scientific horizons beyond the research experiences during the undergraduate and graduate training. These fellowships are further designed to assist new scientists to direct their research efforts across traditional disciplinary lines and to avail themselves of unique research resources, sites, and facilities, including foreign locations.The research and training plan is entitled "Tetraether lipid synthesis in Archaea." Archaeal lipids are unique in their structure and function and represent an important evolutionary marker. The proposed studies are directed towards elucidation of key enzymatic steps in the later part of the tetraether lipid synthesis pathway. Bioinformatic, molecular genetic, DNA microarray, and analytical chemical techniques are being employed to interrogate candidate gene functions using the extremely acidophilic archaeon Ferroplasma acidarmanus. The focus of the proposed research is how archaeal extremophiles are able to thrive in environments characterized by extremes in pH, temperature, and ionic strength by revealing the mechanism by which Archaea synthesize membrane lipids.