In this ROW/CAA (Research Opportunities for Women/ Career Advancement Award) project, Dr. Linda Strausbaugh at the University of Connecticut proposes to study the evolution of the histone gene family in the Drosophila willistoni species complex. The histones are a class of proteins universal in living organisms which, because of their functional importance in chromosomes, have been highly conserved by evolution. Strausbaugh has found evidence of histone gene variation among closely related species of the D. willistoni complex and proposes a series of experiments to test theories about the evolution of histone genes. Dr. Strausbaugh is a molecular geneticist attempting to carry her research into the realm of evolutionary biology. Under the ROW/CAA program she will continue her work initiated while on sabbatical leave at Yale University during the 1989-90 academic year; specifically, she will "re-tool" her laboratory for studies in molecular evolution, initiate several new projects and complete the projects initiated at Yale.
