This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Microbial biology for FY2003. The fellowship supports training and research on the basic biology of protozoan, microalgal, fungal, archaeal, bacterial and viral species that are not generally considered to be model organisms. Further, it provides opportunities for recent doctoral recipients to obtain additional training in microbial biology, to gain research experience under the sponsorship of established scientists, and to broaden their scientific horizons beyond the research experiences during the undergraduate and graduate training. These fellowships are further designed to assist new scientists to direct their research efforts across traditional disciplinary lines and to avail themselves of unique research resources, sites, and facilities, including foreign locations.
The research and training plan is entitled "Role of plant phenolics in the rhizosphere degradation of polychlorinated biphenyls and polyaromatic hydrocarbons ." The role of plant root flavonoids as substrates for bacteria and fungi that degrade polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the rhizosphere microbial community is being examined using an RNA-based, stable isotope probing method. Microarrays are also being employed to investigate degradative gene induction in a PCB-degrading bacterium during growth on flavonoids and other plant phenolic compounds.
