NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biological Informatics for FY 2000

本行动资助美国国家科学基金会生物信息学博士后研究奖学金。这项研究和培训计划是在发展演变领域，题为“疟疾和有关寄生虫中发育调节基因的进化速度和模式”。疟疾寄生虫（疟原虫）和其顶复合体门的一些其他成员具有具有不寻常组织的核糖体DNA。与大多数其他真核生物不同，这些原生动物只有少数独立进化的rDNA位点，至少在疟疾中，这些基因可能只在寄生虫发育的特定时间表达。这项研究的目的是确定在这个门的进化史中，这些基因的特殊组织何时出现，并详细检查这些基因的进化速度和模式。正在使用的生物信息学方法包括进化基因组学、结构生物学和使用大型序列数据数据库。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biological Informatics for FY-2000.The research and training plan are in the area of evolution of development and is entitled "Evolutionary Rate and Pattern in Developmentally-regulated Genes in Malaria and Related Parasites." Malaria parasites (Plasmodium) and some other members of their phylum, Apicomplexa, have nuclear ribsomal DNA with an unusual organization. Unlike most other eukaryotes, these protozoans have only a few, independently-evolving rDNA loci, and at least in malaria, these genes may be expressed only at specific times in the parasites' development. The goal of this research is to identify when in the evolutionary history of this phylum the peculiar organization of these genes arose as well as to examine in detail the rate and pattern of the evolution of these genes. Evolutionary genomics, structural biology, and the use of large databases of sequence data are among the bioinformatic approaches being used.