This award will provide supplementary support to enable Dr. Jaxk Reeves of the University of Georgia to conduct collaborative research for 12 months with Dr. Masami Hasegawa of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics in Tokyo, Japan. Using the complete mitochondrial genome of several completely sequenced animal species (human, cow, mouse, frog, fruit fly), the researchers will apply statistical techniques to obtain estimates and standard errors thereof of the long-term substitution rates of the elemental DNA bases (A,C,G,T). In addition, they will obtain estimates and standard errors of the relative time-distances between various species' branchings. The approach to be used is novel in that the complete mitochondrial DNA genome of five animal species will be used; approximately 16,500 base pairs for each. This will allow the researchers to address the questions of whether the rate of specific base pair substitution has been approximately constant over the millions of years of evolutionary history, and what effect position in the sequence has on substitution rates. Dr. Hasegawa is an established leader in the application of statistics to the field of genetics, and the Institute of Statistical Mathematics should prove an ideal environment for Dr. Reeves to pursue and expand his research.
