About the Project
As the tools available for biotechnology become ever more precise and powerful, they open up great new opportunities for improving disease resistance in the crops on which we rely for our food. Plants such as wheat, the world’s most widely grown crop species, are attacked by numerous pests and parasites however, so farmers need to have access to varieties which have reasonably good resistance to all significant diseases.
This project concerns a set of genes in wheat which have been knocked out by gene editing, making plants completely resistant to powdery mildew, a potentially serious disease caused by a biotrophic fungus which grows on living host tissue. But in barley, a species closely-related to wheat, a similar mildew-resistance gene, mlo, causes plants to be more susceptible to necrotrophic or hemibiotrophic pathogens which reproduce in dead or dying leaves.
The key question to be investigated here is whether or not this new form of mildew resistance has undesirable trade-offs: does it make wheat varieties more susceptible to non-biotrophic fungal diseases which are significant threats to food production?
The student will gain a wide range of experience in plant pathology, including working with biotrophic and non-biotrophic pathogens, running disease trials in a range of plant growth facilities, several types of microscopy to study plant-fungal interactions, molecular genetics including analysis of gene expression, statistical modelling of disease development, and the application of biotechnology to disease control. Moreover, the project is relevant to global food security because it will enable plant breeders and others in the farming industry to evaluate the costs and benefits of this new type of mildew resistance in wheat.
This project has been shortlisted for funding by the Norwich Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership (NRPDTP). Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed as part of the studentship competition. Candidates will be interviewed on either the 10th, 11th or 12th January 2017.
The Norwich Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership (NRPDTP) offers postgraduates the opportunity to undertake a 4 year research project whilst enhancing professional development and research skills through a comprehensive training programme. You will join a vibrant community of world-leading researchers. All NRPDTP students undertake a three month professional internship (PIPS) during their study. The internship offers exciting and invaluable work experience designed to enhance professional development. Full support and advice will be provided by our Professional Internship team. Students with, or expecting to attain, at least an upper second class honours degree, or equivalent, are invited to apply.
For further information and to apply, please visit our website: www.biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk
Funding Notes
Full Studentships cover a stipend (RCUK rate: £14,296pa – 2016/7), research costs and tuition fees at UK/EU rate, and are available to UK and EU students who meet the UK residency requirements.
Students from EU countries who do not meet the UK residency requirements may be eligible for a fees-only award. Students in receipt of a fees-only award will be eligible for a maintenance stipend awarded by the NRPDTP Bioscience Doctoral Scholarships, which when combined will equal a full studentship. To be eligible students must meet the EU residency requirements. Details on eligibility for funding on the BBSRC website: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/documents/studentship-eligibility-pdf/.
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