Resources for the development of ash trees resistant to ash dieback (Chalara): genetic diversity of ash and methods for its recombination

Ash dieback, caused by the fungal pathogen Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, is threatening populations of ash trees throughout Europe. This has sparked off an international research effort to develop ash trees with low susceptibility to the fungus. This PhD studentship, jointly funded by the UK and the Republic of Ireland, provides an outstanding opportunity for a student with a strong background in genetics, bioinformatics or molecular biology to contribute to this effort.

The PhD student will be based in the lab of Dr Richard Buggs, working with other students and postdocs on ash genomics in relation to ash dieback. This lab recently published a paper in Nature on the genome of the European ash tree, and its diversity in Europe. The lab has strong collaborations with many other organisations working on the same problem, including Forest Research, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Univerity of Copenhagen and Earlham Institute. We are currently sequencing and assembling the genomes of 30 ash species and testing them for resistance to ash dieback (see www.ashgenome.org).

This project will have a particular focus on collaboration with research programmes in Ireland. The project aims to understand the genetic resources available in Great Britain and Ireland for the development of ash trees with low susceptibility to ash dieback (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus). This includes both native populations of Fraxinus excelsior and collections of alien species of ash found in botanic gradens and arboreta. A particular focus of the project will be analysis of the susceptibility of alien ash species to ash dieback, and their potential for crossing with F. excelsior. This will involve analysis of field trials and hybridisation experiments. It will also involve analysis of the genomes of 30 ash species in a phylogenetic context.

The main criterion by which a student will be selected is scientific excellence. There is considerable scope for the project to be tailored to the skills and interests of the student, fitting with the broad research programme on ash dieback.

This student will consolidate the UK and Ireland’s place in pan-European research programmes by developing new techniques relevant to international research efforts on breeding for ash dieback resistance, and will provide knowledge about the genetics of ash trees in Ireland. This project will provide training in an area with a current skills shortage. The student will be supervised by Dr Gerry Douglas of Teagasc, who has been working on ash for many years and is expert in its hybridisation and propagation, and by Dr Richard Buggs of Queen Mary University of London.