Cooperation and conflict in microbial systems: sucrose metabolism in yeast

描述（由申请人提供）：候选人目前是马萨诸塞州理工学院物理系亚历山大货车欧德纳登教授实验室的Pappalardo博士后研究员。该候选人获得了加州大学伯克利分校的物理学博士学位，从事单分子生物物理学领域的研究。在博士后奖学金期间，候选人正在过渡到系统生物学领域。候选人将应用定量技术从以前的研究，在微生物系统的进化博弈动力学的研究。NIH独立之路奖将在过渡期间为候选人提供必要的支持。该奖项将允许候选人继续获得体内实验生物学技术的新技能，特别是使用细菌和酵母细胞培养，流式细胞术以及分子遗传学和分析。候选人已经制定并参与了一项研究计划，以研究美国合作的演变。葡萄糖代谢在该奖项的博士后阶段，候选人将1）开发理论和实验方法来了解蔗糖代谢的性质2）探索蔗糖代谢中的合作和竞争相互作用3）研究空间结构对合作相互作用演变的影响。这些目标将通过基因工程的“合作者”和“作弊者”菌株来实现。酿酒酵母并在液体培养中直接竞争生长这些菌株。这些竞争实验的结果将通过荧光显微镜和流式细胞术的组合进行监测。在该奖项的独立阶段，候选人将扩大研究的合作和竞争的相互作用，管理铁清除铁载体的细菌E。杆菌候选人最终希望在研究和教学中追求学术生涯。相关性：合作的进化是进化生物学中的经典问题，对癌症和传染病的研究具有重要意义。多细胞生命是细胞合作的一个典型例子;当一个细胞停止这种合作并开始不受控制地分裂时，就会产生癌症。类似地，传染病的毒力可以取决于感染微生物和宿主之间的合作或竞争相互作用的性质。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The candidate is currently a Pappalardo Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Professor Alexander van Oudenaarden in the Department of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The candidate was awarded a PhD in Physics from the University of California, Berkeley for research in the field of single- molecule biophysics. During the Postdoctoral Fellowship, the candidate is transitioning to the field of systems biology. The candidate will apply the quantitative techniques from previous research to the study of evolutionary game dynamics in microbial systems. The NIH Pathway to Independence Award would provide necessary support to the candidate during this transition period. The award would allow the candidate to continue to acquire new skills in the techniques of in vivo experimental biology specifically the use of bacterial and yeast cell culture, flow cytometry, and molecular genetics and analysis. The candidate has developed and engaged in a research proposal to study the evolution of cooperation in S. cerevisaie sucrose metabolism. During the Postdoctoral phase of the award, the candidate will 1) Develop theoretical and experimental approaches to understand the nature of sucrose metabolism 2) Explore cooperative and competitive interactions in sucrose metabolism 3) Study the effect of spatial structure on the evolution of cooperative interactions. These aims will be accomplished by genetically engineering "cooperator" and "cheater" strains of S. cerevisiae and growing these strains in direct competition in liquid culture. The results of these competition experiments will be monitored through a combination of fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. During the independent phase of the award, the candidate will extend the research to the cooperative and competitive interactions that govern the production of iron-scavenging siderophores by the bacteria E. coli. The candidate ultimately desires to pursue an academic career in research and teaching. Relevance: The evolution of cooperation is a classic problem in evolutionary biology with important implications for the study of cancer and infectious diseases. Multi-cellular life is a prime example of cellular cooperation; cancer results when one cell ceases this cooperation and begins to divide uncontrollably. Similarly, the virulence of infectious diseases can depend upon the nature of cooperative or competitive interactions between infecting microbes and the host.