The role of light signalling in plant immunity

A fully-funded 4-year PhD position is available to study the signalling crosstalk between light and plant immunity in Arabidopsis and crop species.

Light is essential for regulating every aspect of plant growth and development. Recent studies have revealed that light quality and duration can influence plant immune response onset as well as the virulence of some pathogens. Phytophthora infestans is the causal agent of potato late blight which is still the most devastating pathogen of potato worldwide. The genome of P. infestans encodes a family of effector proteins that are translocated into host cells during pathogen attack. Two such effectors have recently been shown to target components of blue and red light signalling pathways in the crop host potato. This novel finding suggests that P. infestans is manipulating host light signalling pathways to benefit disease progression. Light signalling pathways have been extensively characterised in the model flowering plant Arabidopsis. This PhD project therefore aims to exploit expertise, experimental tools and systems in both light and defense fields using model and crop systems to examine the crosstalk between light and plant immunity. The student will have the opportunity to work at the James Hutton Institute (Gilroy and Birch labs) and the Institute of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology at the University of Glasgow (Kaiserli and Christie labs) and receive training by experts in the fields of plant immunity and light signalling, respectively, at each site. This PhD project will provide training in a broad range of biological techniques, interpersonal communication skills, time-management and knowledge transfer. The PhD student will receive specialised training in genetics, functional genomics, biochemistry, cell biology as well as microbiology and will encouraged to present their work at local, national and international conferences.

Application deadline: January 5th 2018
Interview: January 15th – February 2nd 2018
Start Date: October 2018

When applying, please enter the project title in the programme description box of the online application form.

For more information regarding the PhD programme please contact [Email Address Removed] or visit: https://www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/mvls/graduateschool/, http://www.hutton.ac.uk/staff/postgraduate.

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