This proposal from Michigan State University (MSU) requests funds to establish a Science and Technology Center in Microbial Ecology. The Director of the Center will be Professor James M. Tiedje. To achieve the goal of the Center the research has been organized around three key areas of knowledge: the genetic features of organisms, the physiological capacity of these organisms, and the effect of the environment on these organisms. The Center is intended to make the greatest impact on the unanswered questions important to understanding the success and function of organisms in their habitat. The research program will be organized under selected component projects that contribute to the three key areas. The projects will be gene pool accessibility, population diversity, community diversity, novel organisms, substrate availability, environmental control, adhesion, natural toxins, chemical analysis, and DNA probe methodology. Each of these has a well defined research scope consisting of short term goals (3-5 years) and longer range objectives (10-11 years). The individual projects interact in many ways to advance understanding of broader issues. An example of the project interaction is the problem of developing new processes to biodegrade hazardous wastes. This requires information on novel dechlorinating organisms and their isolation from nature (Novel Organisms), and on whether critical genes can be amplified or transferred in these unusual organisms, or requires novel vector development (Gene Pool Accessibility). The exploitation of these organisms may require that they be retained (Adhesion), and that the process be sequenced to degrade byproducts (Environmental Control). In all of its research the Center will build on basic principles, drawing together the relevant disciplinary resources to solve particular problems. Funding from industry as well as other Federal agencies will then translate these principles into highly useful technology.
