The relationship between bacteriophage and virome diversity and plant response to rising temperatures is largely unexplored. Microbial communities are crucial for plant health, enhancing plant tolerance to stresses, including pathogens, by boosting defense responses. Elevated temperatures could alter leaf/root chemistry, impacting microbial diversity and diminishing the capacity to suppress pathogens.
Bacterial genus Xanthomonas causes diseases in over 400 plant species, leading to significant agricultural losses. Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc) affects economically important Brassica crops such as cauliflower, cabbage, and broccoli, as well as other cruciferous crops and the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.
Bacteriophage biocontrol is a promising alternative method to these approaches. Phages have been explored as potential biocontrol agents against Pseudomonas syringae pathovars actinidiae, aesculi, and syringae.
The student will receive specialist training for this multidisciplinary project, encompassing fieldwork, microbiology, genomics, viromic, data management, bioinformatic, statistical analysis and interpretation of large and complex data sets.
The student will be supported to develop these skills within the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick, and Department of Genetics and Genome Biology at the University of Leicester, allowing to excel in all of these aspects of data acquisition, analysis and dissemination and to build important networks.
Phage and virome biodiversity assessment will include DNA genome sequencing, metabarcoding, and viromic analysis which will be analysed using multivariate analysis tools in R and Warwick Scientific Computing Research Technology Platform (SCRTP).
Check and apply here https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/lifesci/study/pgr/studentships/nerccenta/studentships/
For more phage-related research opportunities, click here https://jobs.thephage.xyz/
