9400060 Koehler This award is under the International Junior Investigator and Postdoctoral Fellows Program, which enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twelve months of research abroad at research centers of proven excellence. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad. This award will support a twelve-month postdoctoral research visit by Dr.Carla M. Koehler of Iowa State University to work with Dr. Gottfried Schatz at the University of Basel in Basel, Switzerland. This research proposal concerns fundamental questions of cell biology related to biogenesis and protein exchanges. In particular, it intends to characterize the mitochondrial outer membrane import machinery in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Dr. Koehler will use genetic techniques to clone suppressors of one mitochondrial import receptor. Specifically, the goal is to see how Mas20p and Mas70p, two import receptors, function as receptors. Use of the two hybrid system and biochemical techniques will reveal whether they interact with each other and imported precursors. Other proteins located at the import site and in the cytosol will be identified by screening a cDNA library using the two-hybrid system, and the interaction between cytosolic factors and the receptors will be examined further using biochemical and biophysical methods. This research is likely to advance current understanding of events at the cell membrane. ***
