The molecular basis of symbiosis establishment in beetles at Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology on FindAPhD.com

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Prof Martin Kaltenpoth, Dr Tobias Engl No more applications being accepted Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

Jena Germany Ecology Entomology Microbiology Molecular Biology Molecular Genetics

About the Project

Background:

Beneficial symbioses with bacteria are widespread and important in insects, allowing them to exploit otherwise inaccessible ecological niches. While symbiont contributions to host fitness are often well characterized, the molecular interactions between hosts and symbionts that enable establishment and maintenance of the symbiosis remain poorly understood, due to the scarcity of experimentally and genetically tractable systems. Across multiple beetle symbioses, we have cultured symbiotic microbes and established tools for genetic manipulation, which now allow for unraveling the molecular host-symbiont interplay at unprecedented levels of detail.

Project description:

The aim of the project is to unravel the molecular factors that are important for symbiont establishment and the beneficial function for the beetle host. To this end, molecular tools will be employed for targeted and random mutagenesis of the symbionts. The manipulated symbionts will then be introduced into the host, and the impact of the mutations on symbiont establishment and on host phenotypic traits will be characterized using bioassays, microscopy, and chemical analytics. The results are expected to shed light on the molecular underpinnings of an insect-associated lifestyle in bacteria and reveal why some clades of bacteria have been particularly successful in establishing symbiotic associations with insects. In addition, lifestyle switches between insect mutualism and plant pathogenicity can be characterized on the molecular level to understand whether shared pathways are responsible for colonizing disparate hosts.

Candidate profile:

a deep interest in the molecular biology and evolutionary ecology of insect-microbe interactions
a strong background in molecular (micro)biology, alternatively in insect or bacterial physiology
excellent skills in targeted and untargeted mutagenesis of bacteria will be required for the project, so expertise on relevant techniques is highly desirable
critical scientific thinking skills
curiosity, creativity, and ambition
excellent time management and organizational skills
the ability and willingness to interact with other scientists in the group
very good communication skills
proficiency in written and spoken English

References

Reading:
Anbutsu, H., Moriyama, M., Nikoh, N., Hosokawa, T., Futahashi, R., Tanahashi, M., Meng, X. Y., Kuriwada, T., Mori, N., Oshima, K., Hattori, M., Fujie, M., Satoh, N., Maeda, T., Shigenob,u S., Koga, R., Fukatsu, T. (2017) Small genome symbiont underlies cuticle hardness in beetles. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 114: E8382-E8391. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1712857114
Engl, T., Eberl, N., Gorse, C., Krueger, T., Schmidt, T. H. P., Plarre, R., Adler, C., Kaltenpoth, M. (2018) Ancient symbiosis confers desiccation resistance to stored grain pest beetles. Mol. Ecol. 27: 2095-2108. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.14418
Flórez. L, V., Scherlach, K., Gaube, P., Ross, C., Sitte, E., Hermes, C., Rodrigues, A., Hertweck, C., Kaltenpoth, M. (2017) Antibiotic-producing symbionts dynamically transition between plant pathogenicity and insect defensive mutualism. Nat. Commun. 8: 15172. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15172
Flórez, L. V., Scherlach, K., Miller, I., Rodrigues, A., Kwan, J., Hertweck, C., Kaltenpoth, M. (2018) An antifungal polyketide associated with horizontally acquired genes supports symbiont-mediated defense in Lagria villosa beetles. Nat. Commun. 9: 2478. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04955-6
Ganesan, R., Kaltenpoth, M., Florez, L. V. (2021) Transposon-insertion Sequencing as a Tool to Elucidate Bacterial Colonization Factors in a Burkholderia gladioli Symbiont of Lagria villosa Beetles. J. Vis. Exp.: 21. https://doi.org/10.3791/62843
Kiefer, J. S. T., Batsukh, S., Bauer, E., Hirota, B., Weiss, B., Wierz, J., Fukatsu, T., Kaltenpoth, M., Engl, T. (2021) Inhibition of a nutritional endosymbiont by glyphosate abolishes mutualistic benefit on cuticle synthesis in Oryzaephilus surinamensis. Comm. Biol. 4: 554. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-02057-6
Wierz, J., Gaube, P., Klebsch, D., Kaltenpoth, M., Flórez, L. V. (2021) Transmission of bacterial symbionts with and without genome erosion between a beetle host and the plant environment. Front. Microbiol. 12: 715601. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.715601