Crypto Systems in Ciliates

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This award supports research and curriculum activities under the Interdisciplinary Grants in the Mathematical Sciences program. The principal investigator proposes to visit the Biology Department at his home institution, Boise State University, for eleven months during the 2006 calendar year.The purpose of the visit is to establish an independent research program focused on programmablemolecular rearrangement phenomena in cell biology, to develop fruitful collaboration with biologists, andto develop an interdisciplinary master's degree course in Biomolecular computing.The main model of the investigation will be the development of the macro nucleus from the micro nucleus in hypotrichous ciliates. Genes in the macro nucleus are actively expressed during the life cycle of such ciliates, while the micro nucleus is transcriptionally silent. The micro nucleus contains the genes of the macro nucleus in encrypted form, and after fertilization of such a ciliate, the old macro nucleus degenerates and a new one is produced by an unusual decryption process, decrypting the micro nucleus.The investigator will explore, in collaboration with Drs Munger, Oxford and Smith and other members of theDepartment of Biology, (i) the mathematicalproperties of these ciliate cryptosystems, (ii) to what extent these crypto technologies can be manipulated to solve computational mathematical problems and to perform encryptions or decryptions, and (iii) to what extent the crypto technologies of two different hypotrich species are compatible. The latter may shed some light on the evolutionary relationship among different hypotrich species. The investigator and his collaborators in the Biology department will design and perform a number of laboratory experiments to test mathematical models that will be constructed to model these bi-nuclearphenomena in hypotrichous ciliates. Concurrently, definitive course materials and experiences will be prepared for the interdisciplinary course. This includes lecture- and study-materials, supporting laboratory experiments and supporting computational resources.This IGMS project is jointly supported by the MPS Office of Multidisciplinary Activities (OMA) and the Division of Mathematical Sciences (DMS).