The fellowship research and training will be carried out by Dr. Ann Bucklin in the laboratory of Mitchell Sogin, Director of the Molecular Evolution Program at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole. Molecular techniques will be used to sequence the mitochondrial ribosomal RNA genes of several oceanic planktonic copepods. Sequencing will be done by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the genes, using conserved and newly-designed primers, and a modification of the Sanger dideoxynucleotide sequencing method. Sequences of both small (12S) and large (16S) subunit rRNA genes and their flanking regions will be obtained. Intra- and interspecific variability in these sequences will be quantified in order to evaluate their use as indicators of population genetic and evolutionary phenomena. It is anticipated that mitochondrial rRNA genes will prove to be useful indicators of population genetic structure and gene flow patterns in oceanic copepods. Conserved regions of the rRNA genes may be useful to examine phylogenetic relationships within copepod or other crustacean families, and will provide interesting comparisons with similar studies using genomic indicators.
