9733303 Grogan The career plan combines teaching activities and basic research in ways designed to stimulate both scientific training and scientific discovery. Teaching objectives. The teaching activities seek to i) enhance the role of basic research in an existing undergraduate biology curriculum, ii) use participation in basic reseat to enhance the education of pre-college teachers, iii) better utilize experimental study of micro-organisms in teaching basic concepts of biology, and iv) equip graduate students with the basic skills and knowledge needed to pursue research in cellular, molecular, or prokaryotic biology. Teaching methods. New courses will be developed for the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati. The first will be a novel summer course in which local teachers and undergraduate students will work in teams to isolate unusual micro-organisms found in extreme environments. These micro-organisms will be characterized biochemically to demonstrate their diversity and biotechnological potential. The second will be a regular laboratory course in the academic year; this course will give graduate students and advanced undergraduates practical experience in bacterial genetics. Finally, two team-taught, graduate-level courses (one in microbiology and one in molecular biology) will be developed in collaboration with other faculty members in the Department. Teaching significance. Educators recognized a need for undergraduate students and science teachers to participate in true experimental science in addition to prepared laboratory exercises. Summer courses offered at urban universities could provide access to special research experiences that would meet this need. Basic research on micro-organisms, particularly those found in extreme environments, open up novel and interesting research opportunities in which a wide spectrum of students can productively participate. Research objectives. The research projects study aspects of cell division, genetic e xchange, mutation, and DNA repair at extremely high temperatures in Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, an archaeon from geothermal environments. Research methods. Genetic approaches are emphasized. They include characterization of conditional-lethal mutants with defects cell division, and measurement of the effects of DNA damage on mutation and on a mechanism of natural genetic exchange. Longer-term projects will seek to develop and improve molecular-cloning methods for thermophilic archaea and isolate new mutants of S. acidocaldarius defective in aspects of DNA repair. Research significance. The study of prokaryotes in geothermal environments has raised many fundamental questions relating to biodiversity and biotechnology, including the scope of evolutionary divergence represented by the Archaea, and how the proteins and nucleic acids of thermophilic archaea function under conditions that denature the corresponding molecules of well studied micro-organisms. Genetic approaches that allow gene function to be monitored in vivo have not been used to address these questions. Progress from the applicant's prior research now makes it feasible to investigate cell division, genetic exchange and recombination, mutation, and DNA repair in vivo at temperatures of about 80o C. These molecular processes are important for the genetics of micro-organisms generally, and may have special importance for the survival and propagation of thermophilic archaea in extremely harsh conditions. Integration. The unique micro-organisms and genetic elements that may be isolated by summer course participants will provide researchers with valuable new material with which to study thermophilic archaea at the molecular level. At the same time, science teachers, biology majors and graduate students will learn the nature of scientific knowledge, useful laboratory techniques, and scientific problem-solving skills by conducting research on thermophilic archaea.
