The University of Sheffield
Department of Animal and Plant Sciences

The epigenetic basis of trans-generational plant defence: how do plants inform their offspring about pests and disease?

Supervisor: Dr Jurriaan Ton

The Animal and Plant Science (APS) department of the University of Sheffield (UK) is offering a 4-year PhD studentship as part of a larger multidisciplinary research project that is funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

Plants have evolved ingenious strategies to defend themselves against pests and diseases. The speed and intensity by which plants mobilise their defence arsenal upon attack determines the strength of their resistance. In addition to innate defence responses that are directly activated by incoming attack, plants can also prime their immune system to respond faster and stronger to future attacks. This heightened defence state is long-lasting, and is typically triggered by environmental signals that indicate upcoming stress, such as localised pathogen attack or wound-inducible odours from neighbouring plants. Hence, priming of defence can be regarded as immunological memory of plants.

We have recently discovered that progeny from diseased Arabidopsis plants are more resistant than genetically identical progeny from healthy plants [1, 2]. This enhanced resistance is associated with priming of defence genes and involves regulation by reversible changes in the biochemistry of DNA that can change the responsiveness of genes without changing their DNA sequence – DNA methylation. This PhD project will determine the cause-effect relationship between parental stress and transgenerational immune priming, and address the costs and benefits of this defence strategy under different environmental stress conditions. The project is part of a larger research consortium, which aims to characterise the evolutionary drivers and epigenetic mechanisms controlling transgenerational immune priming in plants.

Successful candidates should have a background in plant pathology, molecular biology or biochemistry (BSc or MSc). Applicants should send their CV and covering letter to Dr. Jurriaan Ton (j.ton@sheffield.ac.uk). An online application form should also be completed.  Please go to http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/postgraduate/research/apply   and follow the links.  The call remains open until the position is filled.

References:

  1. Luna, E., et al. (2012) Next-Generation Systemic Acquired Resistance. Plant Physiol. 158, 844-853
  2. Luna, E. and Ton, J. (2012) The epigenetic machinery controlling transgenerational systemic acquired resistance. Plant Signal Behav 7, 615-618