About the Project
The bumblebee Bombus terrestris has become a key ecological and evolutionary model of host parasite interactions. This bumblebee is commonly infected with a Trypanosomatid gut parasite, Crithidia bombi, which has dramatic effects on host fitness. Among the features of this interaction is a dramatic degree of specificity. That is, that some bumblebee genotypes are infected with certain parasite genotypes, but not others. This specificity is the result of both host, parasite, and bacterial microbiota characteristics that are as yet poorly understood. With the recent sequencing of both the host and parasite genomes, and the advent of genome editing technologies that can be applied in the host, parasite, and microbiota, we are now in a position to tease apart the mechanisms that determine infection in a key ecological and evolutionary model system.
This project will target candidate genes in the parasite and the host and use CRISPR/Cas9 editing and RNA interference to assess their functional importance to disease outcome. The results of this work will have direct implications for key global issues, including protecting pollinators, which is crucial for food security, and insect-trypanosome interactions, many of which cause devastating human and livestock diseases.
The ideal student for this project would be one who wishes to apply their molecular biology skills to a novel model system to understand host-parasite interaction. This project will suit a student with interests in evolutionary ecology, microbiology, parasitology, genetics, or molecular biology. Existing skills in any of those areas would be helpful but independence, curiosity, a healthy sense of humor, and a certain amount of grit are usually more important.
The successful student will develop skills in evolutionary ecology, host-parasite interaction, immunology, molecular biology, genome editing, and genomics. These skills will be highly marketable both in industry and in academia. The Institute of Integrative Biology at the University of Liverpool and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine offer a vibrant and world-leading community of researchers to interact with, providing many opportunities for collaboration.
This project is looking for a student with good upper second or first class degree in biological or life sciences, biomedical, evolutionary biology, microbiology, molecular biology, parasitology, or other relevant fields. If interested please contact me by email if you have any questions about your suitability for the position
References
Schmid-Hempel, P., M. Aebi, S. Barribeau, T. Kitajima, L. Du Plessis, R. Schmid-Hempel, and S. Zoller. 2018. The genomes of Crithidia bombi and C. expoeki, common parasites of bumblebees. PloS one 13: e0189738.
Barribeau, S. M., B. M. Sadd, L. du Plessis, and P. Schmid-Hempel. 2014. Gene expression differences underlying genotype-by-genotype specificity in a host-parasite system. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 111: 3496.
Sloan, M & Ligoxygakis, P (2017) Immunology of Insect Vectors: Midgut Interactions of Sandflies and Tsetse with Kinetoplastid Parasites as a Paradigm for Establishing Infection. Advances in Insect Physiology 52: 231-248