Dr S Paterson, Prof M Brockhurst, Prof A Fenton
No more applications being accepted
Competition Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)
About the Project
The transfer of genes between bacterial species is a key driver of evolution by allowing bacteria to gain novel functions, such as antibiotic resistance. Despite the importance of horizontal gene transfer, we know little about how readily genes can be swapped between different species within natural microbial communities. This is because little is known about the diverse range of species that plasmids, the main agents of gene transfer, will naturally infect. New methods in genomics allow the transfer of genes to be quantified, examined within experimental micocosms and modelled using epidemiological methods.
The project will involve a mixture of microbiology, genomics and computer modelling, which will give the student a broad range of skills required by academia and industry. The project will involve a discrete series of experiments, designed, conducted and analysed by the student and supported by the supervisory team. The project will be jointly based in the Universities of Liverpool and Sheffield as part of the ACCE Doctoral Training Programme.
Funding Notes
Competitive funding of tuition fee, research costs and stipend (£14,553 tax-free, 2017-18) from the NERC Doctoral Training Partnership “Adapting to the Challenges of a Changing Environment” (ACCE, http://acce.group.shef.ac.uk/ ). ACCE – a collaboration between the Universities of Sheffield, Liverpool, and York – is the only dedicated ecology/evolution/conservation Doctoral Training Partnership in the UK.
Applications (CV, letter of application, 2 referees) by email to [Email Address Removed], deadline: January 9th 2018. Interviews: 14th-16th February 2018. Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed for only one project from the ACCE partnership.
This project is also available to self-funded students. A fees bursary may be available.
References
Hall, JPJ, Williams, D, Paterson, S, Harrison, E, & Brockhurst, MA (2017). Positive selection inhibits gene mobilization and transfer in soil bacterial communities. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 1: 1348-1353.
Gomez, P, Paterson, S, De Meester, L, Liu, X, Lenzi, L, Sharma MD, McElroy, K, Buckling A (2016) Local adaptation of a bacterium is as important as its presence in structuring a natural microbial community. Nature Communications 7: 12453
Hall JPJ, Wood AJ, Harrison E & Brockhurst MA (2016) Source–sink plasmid transfer dynamics maintain gene mobility in soil bacterial communities. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113: 8260-8265.
Fenton, A., Streicker, D. G., Petchey, O. L., & Pedersen, A. B. (2015). Are All Hosts Created Equal? Partitioning Host Species Contributions to Parasite Persistence in Multihost Communities. The American Naturalist, 186: 610-622
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