PhD scholarship in Plant-Microbe Interactions (BestPass) ESR9

PhD scholarship in Plant-Microbe Interactions (BestPass) ESR9
BestPass: Boosting plant-endophyte stability, compatibility and performance across scales
Reference number: 19/2015/PV

The Leibniz-Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ) is offering a PhD scholarship in Plant-Microbe Interactions with expected commencement 1. February 2016 or as soon as possible thereafter. The PhD will be awarded by the Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt University Berlin.

Project title: Hormonal regulation of assimilate partitioning in plant-endophyte interactions

Objectives:
As heterotrophic organisms, plant endophytes feed on carbohydrates provided by their hosts. Piriformospora indica is a root endophytic fungus with beneficial effects on plant performance. It has been shown that different phytohormones play important roles in the ability of P. indica to colonise the plant and in the plant response to this colonisation. However, the impact of the fungus on carbohydrate metabolism and allocation and the role of phytohormones in these processes are largely unknown. The objectives of the project are therefore
• Determine the impact of endophyte as additional carbohydrate sink on assimilate partitioning and source metabolism of the host plant.
• Determine the role of hormonal control of metabolic changes for endophyte establishment.
• Determine the extent of carbohydrate drain towards the endophyte.
• Analyse the production of phytohormones by the endophyte.

Principal supervisor: Prof Dr Philipp Franken, Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops, Franken@erfurt.igzev.de, +4936201/785 217

Planned secondments: Copenhagen University, Copenhagen/Denmark; INOQ GmbH, Schnega/Germany

BestPass
We need to increase the crop yield while reducing pesticide and use of inorganic fertiliser to meet the challenges of world population growth and climate change. Plant endophytic microorganisms can improve plant yield and enhance plant tolerance to abiotic stress as well as to pathogens under experimental conditions, but these effects are often not sufficiently stable for practical application.

How do we boost the stability and reliability of the positive effects of endophytes on plants?
We need to understand the genetic basis of beneficial interactions between crops and endophytes and extent this basic knowledge of phenotypic plasticity at all interaction levels from the cellular to the field environment. This requires increasing our knowledge of the molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of endophytes, including intra- and inter-kingdom exchange and distribution of resources (nutrients), signalling and possibly regulation between and inside the partners, the mutual induced production of secondary metabolites and the environmental cues which influence crop-endophyte interactions. The genetic variation and its plasticity in host and microbe will be exploited to establish crop breeding and inoculum production processes for boosting the establishment and stability of plant-microbe mutualisms to benefit crop development, stress tolerance, pathogen resistance and quality.

In BestPass we will provide fundamental biological as well as practical knowledge about interactions between endophytes and plants. This improved understanding will pave the way for increased use of endophytes to improve sustainability and plant productivity in a reliable way.

BestPass is an International Training Network (ITN) funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 676480. General information about BestPass is available at http://bestpass.ku.dk/ or by contacting the project Coordinator, Professor David B. Collinge (Dept. Plant and Environmental, University of Copenhagen, dbc@plen.ku.dk, Phone: +45 35 33 33 56)

Job description
The position is available for a 3-year period. Your key tasks as a PhD student in BestPass are:

• Participate in the research environment at the Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops and the network activities of BestPass.
• Manage and carry through your research project.
• Take PhD courses.
• Write scientific articles and your PhD thesis.
• Participate in congresses.
• Disseminate your research.

Key criteria for the assessment of candidates
• A master’s degree related to the subject area of the project
• The grade point average achieved
• Professional qualifications relevant to the PhD programme
• Relevant biological research experience within these areas: molecular plant physiology, plant-microbe interactions
• Previous research publications
• Other professional activities
• Language skills: fluency in English

Formal requirements and eligibility
At the time of commencement, it is required that the candidates have not been awarded a doctorate degree and are within the first 4 years (full-time equivalent) of their research careers. Furthermore, the candidates must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Germany for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to their recruitment. Short stays, such as holidays, are not taken into account.

Terms of employment
Recruitment and terms of appointment will be done according to the rules and regulations of Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops. Salary will be according to the rules and regulations for PhD students laid down by European Union’s Horizon 2020 Marie Curie Initial Training Networks.

Place of Employment is Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops, Kühnhäuser Straße 101, 99090 Erfurt.

Please notice that this PhD fellowship entails following secondments: Copenhagen University, Copenhagen/Denmark, month 17-24; INOQ GmbH, Schnega/Germany, month 34 and 38.