PhD Studentship: The hidden immune system of fungi uncovering the roles of NLR genes

NLR genes play important roles as the sensors/receptors of non-self molecules and in activation of immune responses. The role of NLRs in immunity has been thoroughly described for plants and animals, but how they contribute to the fungal immune system is unknown. Fungal NLR genes also show hugely increased diversity of N- and C-terminal domains in comparison to their plant and animal counterparts, suggesting that fungal NLRs may have interesting and unique functions not previously described. Our goal is to understand how NLR genes contribute to the cryptic fungal immune system.

To achieve this, we will use the genetically tractable model fungus Zymoseptoria tritici. This wheat pathogen has a complement of 20 NLRs, a comparatively small number compared to other ascomycete fungi. This makes it an appealing system to study how this gene family contributes to diverse processes such as fungal-bacterial interactions, self-incompatibility and host plant interactions.

This project will provide training in diverse techniques related to molecular and cellular biology, bioinformatics and protein biochemistry. A key activity will be the generation of fungal gene knockout strains for subsequent characterisation. In addition, high-throughput screens of microbial collections will be used to identify antagonistic interactions between specific fungal or bacterial species. RNAseq profiling of the fungal transcriptome during interactions with other microbes will be used to identify gene networks important for a coordinated immune response. Confocal fluorescence microscopy will be employed for direct visualisation of microbe-microbe interactions using labelled reporter strains. Finally, proximity labelling techniques such as TurboID will be used to identify key protein-protein interactions during fungal immune responses.

For informal enquiries, please contact Dr Graeme Kettles at g.j.kettles@bham.ac.uk.

For more details please visit: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/mibtp/ or https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/about/college-of-life-and-environmental-sciences/midlands-integrative-biosciences-training-partnership

Funding notes:

This is a PhD studentship with the Midlands Integrated Biosciences Training Partnership, funded by BBSRC and in partnership with the University of Warwick, University of Birmingham, Aston University, Harper Adams University, Coventry University, and the University of Leicester.