This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Microbial biology for FY2004. 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 "Geography and genetics of an RNA bacteriophage." This project investigates the genetic structure of natural populations of the bacteriophage phi6 (host: Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola), a double-stranded RNA phage in the family Cystoviridae. Cystoviruses that infect P. phaseolicola will be isolated from clover plants at a range of geographic scales within New England. Nucleotide sequences of these phages are being used to examine geographic structure, patterns of host association, effective population size, dispersal patterns, and the importance of genetic exchange in these natural phage populations.
