This project is one of a number that are in competition for funding from the NERC Great Western Four+ Doctoral Training Partnership (GW4+ DTP) for entry in October 2022. The GW4+ DTP consists of the Great Western Four alliance of the Universities of Bath, Bristol and Exeter and Cardiff University plus five prestigious Research Organisation partners: British Antarctic Survey, British Geological Survey, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, the Natural History Museum and Plymouth Marine Laboratory. The partnership aims to provide a broad multi-disciplinary training, designed to produce tomorrow’s leaders in earth and environmental science.
Supervisory Team:
Lead Supervisor: Dr Neil Brown, University of Bath, Department of Biology & Biochemistry
Co-Supervisor: Dr Daniel Henk, University of Bath, Milner Centre of Evolution
Co-Supervisor: Dr Ryan Ames, University of Exeter, Living Systems Institute
Co-Supervisor: Prof Kim Hammond-Kosack, Rothamsted Research
Project Background:
Fungal pathogens are notoriously quick to adapt to environmental pressures. Now we are witnessing a rise in fungal disease outbreaks and the evolution of more aggressive pathogens (hypervirulence). These pathogens threaten plant, animal, human and ecosystem health, termed ‘One-Health’. But what is driving this change? Altering environmental pressures and climate change are believed to be accelerating pathogen evolution. But predicting when, why and how these adaptations occur is challenging. This knowledge gap hinders the development of durable practices which will protect the health of our ecosystems and society in an ever-changing environment.
Wheat represents a major component of our global ecosystem and is a primary provider of calories for animals and humans. Fusarium Head Blight is the most damaging floral disease of wheat worldwide and a serious health hazard due to contamination of the grain with mycotoxins that are harmful to plants, animals and humans alike. Existing disease control methods are increasingly ineffective, while pathogen populations with new mycotoxin chemotypes and enhanced aggressiveness have been reported. We urgently need to better understand how our altering environment drives evolutionary trade-offs in this problematic pathogen that threaten our One-Health.
Accordingly, this PhD will explore how the increasingly aggressive fungal pathogen Fusarium graminearum adapts to future environmental pressures, and how this contributes to hypervirulence evolution and the breakdown of disease control options. It will deploy evolutionary biology techniques, fungal genetics (CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing) and bioinformatics to understand the adaptations and the phenotypic tradeoffs involved. This will inform the design of new approaches that could mitigate the impact this harmful fungal disease has on our ‘One-health’, both now and also in future climatic scenarios.
Project Aims and Methods:
The project will use evolutionary biology to assess how Fusarium graminearum adapts during continuous exposure to different combinations of future environmental stresses. This will include elevated temperatures, CO2, salt or sub-lethal fungicide mixtures. After the identification of ‘evolved’ fungal lineages of enhanced stress tolerance, we will assess 1) sensitivity to fungicide treatment, 2) increased pathogen aggressiveness and the breakdown of wheat resistance, and 3) alterations in mycotoxin contamination of wheat grain. This will reveal how different combinations of environmental stresses cause phenotypic trade-offs that influence the rate of pathogen evolution. Select fungal lineages with altered phenotypes will be chosen for further molecular and genomic characterisation. This will define how these evolutionary trade-offs are driving adaptations that contribute to the breakdown of control measures, enhanced pathogen aggressiveness and increased mycotoxin contamination. The molecular and biological consequences of these genetic adaptations will be confirmed by genome-editing (CRISPR-Cas9) of the original fungal strain. Collectively, this will reveal how our interventions and environmental change can promote the rise of hypervirulent pathogens that threaten the health of our ecosystems and society. In doing so, this project will also provide valuable insights into the types of pathogen we may face in the future.
Project Partners:
This PhD will be supported by an established multidisciplinary collaboration between the Universities of Bath and Exeter with Rothamsted Research. The evolutionary biology studies will be performed under the supervision of Drs Brown and Henk (Bath). Dr Brown will also supervise fungal genome-editing studies. Bioinformatic analyses will be supported by Dr Ames (Exeter). The student will spend 6 months with Prof Hammond-Kosack at Rothamsted Research, where they will assess pathogen virulence and mycotoxin production using their specialised world-class facilities.
Training:
This PhD will provide excellent multidisciplinary training from the GW4+ and our collaborative partner. Drs Brown and Henk (Bath) will provide training in evolutionary mycology and fungal genetics (CRSIPR-Cas9). Dr Ames (Exeter) will provide bioinformatics training. Prof. Hammond-Kosack (Rothamsted Research) will provide training in fungal infection models, working in a CAT-3 facility and the use of spectral imaging for mycotoxin quantification. Additional advanced statistical training will be provided by Rothamsted Research.
Candidate Requirements:
Applicants for a studentship must have obtained, or be about to obtain, a First or Upper Second Class UK Honours degree, or the equivalent qualifications gained outside the UK. The ideal candidate will have good knowledge or experience in microbiology and molecular biology, with a demonstratable interest in fungi and/or agricultural science. Bioinformatics skills would be advantageous.
Enquiries and Applications:
Informal enquiries are welcomed and should be directed to Dr Neil Brown, [Email Address Removed].
Formal applications should be made via the University of Bath’s online application form for a PhD in Biology.
When completing the form, please identify your application as being for the NERC GW4+ DTP studentship competition in Section 3 Finance (question 2) and quote the project title and lead supervisor’s name in the ‘Your research interests’ section. If you wish, you may apply for more than one project within the same application but you should submit a separate personal statement for each one.
More information about applying for a PhD at Bath may be found on our website.
We welcome and encourage student applications from under-represented groups. We value a diverse research environment. If you have circumstances that you feel we should be aware of that have affected your educational attainment, then please feel free to tell us about it in your application form. The best way to do this is a short paragraph at the end of your personal statement.
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