Symbiotic interactions define the biology, ecology, and evolution of animals and plants. This impact is particularly profound in insects, where microbes are core components of insect nutritional physiology, defence against natural enemies, desiccation tolerance, and resistance to xenobiotics.
The involvement of phage activation in thermal sensitivity shows many symbionts carry prophage (latent virus) in their genomes, and it is known in other systems that stress can induce viral activation and bacterial lysis and death. In this objective, we will meld the previously distinct fields of symbiosis and phage biology to test if symbiosis sensitivity is driven by virus activation.
The phage activation hypothesis represents a novel and predictive hypothesis for thermal sensitivity – it would predict that symbionts with intact prophage show greater sensitivity to thermal extremes compared to symbionts that do not.
Check with Supervisors:
Prof Greg Hurst – g.hurst@liverpool.ac.uk
Dr Julia Ferrari – julia.ferrari@york.ac.uk
Prof Jo Fothergill – jofoth@liverpool.ac.uk
Please email your CV and cover letter to the primary supervisor along with the project title and reference number, Prof Greg Hurst, in the first instance g.hurst@liverpool.ac.uk
Project title: Symbiosis in a thermally variable world”
For more phage-related research and job opportunities, click here
