Contact: Sarah Nicholas

STARKVILLE, Miss.—A National Science Foundation grant worth more than $1 million awarded to a Mississippi State University biologist will expand scientists’ knowledge of the environmental distribution of Amoebozoa—the major eukaryotic amoeboid lineage— providing a better understanding of the ecology and evolution of “the tree of life.”

Matthew W. Brown, an associate professor of biological sciences at MSU and sole principal investigator of the $1,114,943 grant, said a deeper look into Amoebozoa ancestry and biodiversity is important “to better understand how microbial and multicellular eukaryotes evolved into the vast diversity we see today.”

“Amoeboid microbes are fascinatingly diverse both ecologically and evolutionarily, but they are severely under-studied and poorly sampled,” Brown said. “While they act as important players in nearly all ecosystems examined, very little is known about the true biodiversity that exists in nature. The primary goal of this project is to examine the biodiversity and genomic diversity of amoebae found in a broad variety of habitats from land to the sea.”

Brown’s study will provide a better understanding of where these organisms reside in the environment, how they evolved and what their developmental processes are. It also will generate large amounts of genomic data, providing a much deeper sampling of species than is currently available.

“Amoebozoa represents the closest out-group to the lineage that contains animals and fungi. Regardless of the close evolutionary proximity to this group, the genomic basis of Amoebozoa is not well known,” Brown said.

Angus L. Dawe, Donald L. Hall Distinguished Professor of Biology and head of the department, said NSF support is a valuable mechanism that allows researchers to pursue topics that are “basic science,” not because of simplicity but “because of the foundational nature of the studies upon which further work can build in the future.”

“Dr. Brown’s work will explore a group of organisms that are under-studied but critical both for the roles they play in ecosystems now as well as the information they can provide about the evolution of life on earth,” Dawe said. 

Brown has been an MSU faculty member since 2013. His research focus uses protistological techniques to understand the evolution and diversity of eukaryotes. Among other honors, Brown was named a 2018 College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Eminent Scholar, the top scholarship award given by the college, and is a Fellow of the Institute for Genomics, Biocomputing and Biotechnology at MSU. 

More details of Brown’s research group are available at www.amoeba.msstate.edu.

Part of MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences, complete details about the Department of Biological Sciences are available at www.biology.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.