NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Investigating the spatiotemporal coordination of cell and chloroplast division

这一行动资助了NSF 2022财年生物学博士后研究奖学金，扩大了生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。该研究金支持一项针对该研究员的研究和培训计划，该计划将增加生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。在这个项目中，这位研究员将研究光合作用有机体中的细胞内通信和关键细胞过程的协调。在光合作用期间，陆地植物和藻类使用称为叶绿体的特殊细胞结构来捕获光能，并将二氧化碳转化为氧气和糖。地球上大约一半的光合作用发生在藻类等单细胞有机体中，这使得它们对全球生态系统，包括对人类生存来说，是绝对必要的。许多藻类通过白天生长和晚上分裂来最大限度地利用光线。这些藻类通常有一个与细胞一起分裂的大型叶绿体，这表明叶绿体和细胞其余部分之间的精细通讯控制着细胞和叶绿体分裂的时间和方向。细胞如何协调细胞和叶绿体的分裂是一个谜，因为叶绿体的分裂依赖于不同于细胞分裂的基因。了解细胞如何协调这些事件将阐明细胞内通信的一般原理。对叶绿体分裂调控的洞察也将提高社会利用单细胞光合作用有机体缓解气候变化的能力。这位研究员将利用莱茵衣藻来定义单细胞藻细胞和叶绿体分裂的时空协调的细胞内通讯机制。在前人工作的基础上，这位研究员假设细胞骨架结构调节细胞和叶绿体分裂的空间协调，细胞周期调节在时间上控制这两个过程。利用CRISPR介导的基因敲除和荧光标记，该研究员将构建菌株并进行活细胞显微镜来验证这些假说。这位研究员还将采用双重策略来识别参与细胞和叶绿体分裂协调的新基因和蛋白质：机器人辅助的高通量正向遗传筛选，以及利用已知的和新发现的参与这一过程的成分，利用质谱学进行基于邻近的蛋白质标记。这些项目将促进该研究员在新基因技术和生物化学方面的培训。该研究员设计了一个更广泛的影响计划，通过为研究三角地区生物学方面的黑人女性博士后研究员制定跨机构的指导和支持计划，将增加生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2022, Broadening Participation of Groups Underrepresented in Biology. The Fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. In this project, the Fellow will investigate intracellular communication and the coordination of key cellular processes in photosynthetic organisms. During photosynthesis, land plants and algae use specialized cell structures called chloroplasts to capture light energy and convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and sugars. About half of photosynthesis on earth occurs in single-celled organisms like algae, making them absolutely essential for the global ecosystem, including for human survival. Many algae maximize the use of light by growing during the day and dividing at night. These algae often have a single, large chloroplast that is divided along with the cell, indicating that exquisite communication between the chloroplast and the rest of the cell controls the timing and orientation of both cell and chloroplast division. How cells coordinate cell and chloroplast division is a mystery, because chloroplast division depends on different genes than cell division. Understanding how cells coordinate these events will illuminate general principles of intracellular communication. Insights into the regulation of chloroplast division will also improve society’s capacity to leverage single-celled photosynthetic organisms to mitigate climate change. The Fellow will use Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to define the intracellular communication mechanisms underlying the spatiotemporal coordination of cell and chloroplast division in unicellular algae. Based on prior work, the Fellow hypothesizes that cytoskeletal structures mediate the spatial coordination of cell and chloroplast division, and that cell cycle regulators temporally control both processes. Using CRISPR-mediated gene knockout and fluorescence labelling, the Fellow will construct strains and perform live-cell microscopy to test these hypotheses. The Fellow will also pursue dual strategies to identify novel genes and proteins involved in the coordination of cell and chloroplast division: robotics-assisted, high-throughput forward genetic screens, and proximity-based protein labeling with mass spectrometry, using known and newly identified components involved in the process. These projects will promote the Fellow’s training in new genetic techniques and in biochemistry. The Fellow has designed a broader impacts program that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology by developing a cross-institutional mentoring and support program for Black female postdoctoral fellows in biology in the Research Triangle.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.