This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Microbial Biology for FY2001. The fellowship supports training and research on the basic biology of protozoan, microalgal, fungal, archaeal, bacterial and viral species that are not generally considered to be model organisms. Further, it provides opportunities for a recent doctoral recipients to obtain additional training in microbial biology, to gain research experience under the sponsorship of established scientists, and to broaden his/her scientific horizons beyond the research experiences during the undergraduate and graduate training. These fellowships are further designed to assist new scientists to direct their research efforts across traditional disciplinary lines and to avail themselves of unique research resources, sites, and facilities, including foreign locations.
The research and training plan is entitled "Utilizing biochemical and genetic methods to dissect how a cyanobacterium senses and responds to changing light conditions." The test organism is Fremyella diplosiphon. A detailed biochemical analysis is being made of RcaE, a putative phytochrome-like photoreceptor that controls the process of complementary chromatic adaptation (CCA). Specifically, the experiments address the phosphorelay model which holds that RcaE is the photoreceptor that differentially controls the phosphorylation state of the response regulator RcaF in different light qualities, which in turn regulates the phosphorylation levels of RcaC.
