Objective Wolbachia is an intracellular bacterium capable of inducing various forms of the reproductive manipulation in a diversity of arthropods. The best characterized type of reproductive manipulation is cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) which makes sperm from inf ected males unable to complete fertilization of eggs from uninfected females whereas eggs from infected females develop normally. At present the molecular basis for CI is not understood. Several genomes of CI-inducing Wolbachia are being sequenced and one of the most striking features is the high number of genes encoding ankyrin repeat (ANK) containing proteins found. This protein motif is common in eukaryotes where it has been shown to mediate protein-protein interaction, to interact with the cytoskeleton, to act as a transcription factor and to modify the activity of cell-cycle regulating proteins. Since CI appears to involve disruption of host cell-cycle timing, the ANK genes represent promising candidates for control of the phenotype. The project aims to understand the role of the ANK genes in CI by looking at the variability and expression, potential interactions with other proteins and localization of the ankyrins in relevant tissues. Fields of science natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteinsproteomicsmedical and health sciencesmedical biotechnologygenetic engineeringgene therapynatural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologybacteriologynatural sciencesbiological scienceszoologyinvertebrate zoologynatural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsgenomesprokaryotic genomes Programme(s) FP6-MOBILITY - Human resources and Mobility in the specific programme for research, technological development and demonstration "Structuring the European Research Area" under the Sixth Framework Programme 2002-2006 Topic(s) MOBILITY-2.1 - Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowships (EIF) Call for proposal FP6-2004-MOBILITY-5 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme EIF - Marie Curie actions-Intra-European Fellowships Coordinator THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD EU contribution No data Address University Offices, Wellington Square OXFORD United Kingdom See on map Links Website Opens in new window Total cost No data
