This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Microbial Biology for FY2003. 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 recent doctoral recipients to obtain additional training in microbial biology, to gain research experience under the sponsorship of established scientists, and to broaden their 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 "Testing mechanisms of diversity maintenance in pea aphid symbiont communities". Microorganisms that are transmitted from parent to offspring are found in many insects and can have effects on the host ranging from strongly positive to extremely detrimental. Pea aphid possesses a diverse symbiont community with one obligate and at least five facultative bacterial symbionts. This research uses multidisciplinary approaches to test hypotheses that could explain the high levels of symbiont diversity harbored in pea aphid populations.
