This action funds an NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY 2009 and is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow who also presents a plan to broaden participation in biology. The title of the research and training plan for this fellowship to Filipa Godoy-Vitorino is " A metagenomic study of the Hoatzin crop microbes to reveal novel carbohydrate-active enzymes." The host institution for this research is the DOE-Joint Genome Institute under the sponsorship of Dr. Philip Hugenholtz.
The hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin) is a South American folivorous bird, also known as the stinkbird, unique among other avian species by virtue of the fermentative function of its enlarged crop. The hoatzin rumen-like crop chamber allows for the digestion of its herbivorous diet (thus its nickname "flying cow") and houses an impressive array of novel microbes with potentially novel fiber degrading enzymes. The crop ecosystem provides the host with energy through fermentation of the leafy diet, as well as help in the detoxification of plant defensive toxic compounds. This research project seeks to understand which microbes and enzymes contribute to breaking down plant cell walls.
The training objectives are to gain skills in metagenomics, to accurately classify sequence fragments into their corresponding microbial populations, and to reconstruct metabolic pathways in order to model the ecosystem's dynamics. The broader impacts include increasing the number of minorities through innovative outreach activities involving the University of Puerto Rico, Venezuela and the DOE-Joint Genome Institute, targeting undergraduate and graduate students. This research offers significant benefits to society as it aims to identify crop enzymes that could be used in industrial cellulose degradation for biofuel production. Biofuels are ecologically sustainable and could become an affordable replacement to fossil fuels, and this project represents a step along that path.
