Abstract DBI-9803890 Timothy S. Heuer This action funds an NSF/Alfred P. Sloan Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Molecular Evolution for 1998. These fellowships support studies involving the theoretical, comparative, computational, and/or experimental analyses of biological patterns and processes at the molecular level within the framework of organismic evolutionary change and adaptation. These studies also include the use of molecular data to address broader evolutionary questions. Each fellowship supports a research and training plan to be carried out in a sponsoring laboratory. The research and training plan for this fellowship is entitled selection of protein molecules that bind biologically important small molecules: a study of functional and structural protein diversity and evolution. Peptides that bind biologically important molecules (e.g. ATP, glutathione) will be selected from a library of 1013 random sequence molecules. Enrichment of functional peptides occurs by binding the target ligand and selectively amplifying the encoding mRNA, covalently attached during in vitro translation. After many rounds of selection and amplification, emergent peptides will be characterized and compared to natural motifs.
