NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2014

NSF生物学博士后奖学金将研究和培训部分结合起来，为年轻科学家在新兴领域的职业生涯做好准备，在这些领域，生物学与其他科学学科交叉，在这种情况下，与数学和物理科学交叉。预计这些研究员将成为国家未来科学劳动力的领导者。这项与Rodrigo Olarte博士的奖学金支持一项研究和培训计划，以了解真菌黄曲霉中的遗传元素，称为隐藏等位基因，这种真菌可以通过产生黄曲霉毒素来污染食物。预计研究结果将有助于制定更好的控制战略，以减少或消除对黄曲霉感染敏感的农业重要作物，如玉米、棉花和花生的黄曲霉毒素污染。该奖学金的主办机构是明尼苏达大学，赞助科学家是乔治亚娜·梅博士和亚尼夫·布兰德万博士。S研究员的培训目标包括学习数学建模技术，并应用生态学实验来确定全球范围内隐蔽等位基因的来源、组成和分布。教育推广活动包括培训和指导本科生，如本科生研究机会计划。真菌产生丰富的代谢化合物，但对这些不同化合物的进化起源或生态重要性知之甚少。本研究以黄曲霉产生黄曲霉毒素为模型系统，研究影响微生物毒素进化的生态因素。隐蔽等位基因被认为是在物种进化的早期出现的，因为在黄曲霉种群中保持了很长一段时间。本研究旨在了解这些隐含的等位基因的功能意义，因为它们与真菌毒素生产中表达数量和质量变化的菌株的竞争性有关。这个项目的总体目标是更好地了解生态和进化过程如何影响黄曲霉黄曲霉的黄曲霉毒素基因簇变异和种群水平变异。

NSF Postdoctoral Fellowships in Biology combine research and training components to prepare young scientists for careers in emerging areas where biology intersects with other scientific disciplines, in this case with mathematics and physical sciences. The Fellows are expected to be leaders of the nation's scientific workforce of the future. This fellowship to Dr. Rodrigo Olarte supports a research and training plan to understand genetic elements, called cryptic alleles, in the fungus Aspergillus flavus which can contaminate foods by producing aflatoxins. Research results are expected to be useful in formulating better control strategies that target the reduction or elimination of aflatoxin contamination in agriculturally important crops susceptible to A. flavus infection such as corn, cotton and peanut. The host institution for this fellowship is the University of Minnesota and the sponsoring scientists are Drs. Georgiana May and Yaniv Brandvain. The Fellow?s training goals include learning mathematical modeling techniques and applying ecological experimentation to determine the origin, composition and distribution of the cryptic alleles in a global context. Educational outreach activities include training and mentoring undergraduates in programs, such as the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program.Fungi produce a wealth of metabolic compounds but little is known of the evolutionary origin or ecological importance of these diverse compounds. In this research, aflatoxin production by A. flavus is being used as a model system to investigate the ecological factors affecting the evolution of microbial toxins. Cryptic alleles are suggested to have arisen early in the evolution of the species and since been maintained in A. flavus populations for long periods of time. This research aims to understand the functional significance of these cryptic alleles as they pertain to the competiveness of isolates expressing quantitative and qualitative variation in mycotoxin production. The overall goal of this project is to gain a better understanding of how ecological and evolutionary processes affect variation at the aflatoxin gene cluster and population-level variation in A. flavus.