PhD Position in France on Intercellular communication in plants

June 20, 2008

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Ph.D. POSITION in France
Intercellular communication in plants
Mechanisms involved in plant cell communication play fundamental roles in the orchestration of
plant development, defence responses and pathogenesis. Thus, research in our team investigates the
mechanisms that target RNA and cargo macromolecules to intercellular communication channels in the
plant cell wall termed plasmodesmata
1,2,3,4.

The PhD thesis will complement an HFSPO funded network
project which addresses cellular and intercellular signalling events that occur in response to an infecting
virus. It will address the observation that plants respond to local virus infection in a leaf with the
generation of a systemic signal able to spread through the plant and to cause responses in other, non-
infected organs. These responses involve an increase in somatic recombination frequency which may
occur as an adaptive measure to the presence of the virus 2
. In the frame of our network project the thesis
will participate in investigating this virus-triggered systemic response by a systems approach, i.e. at the
level of of transcript accumulation, protein phosphorylation, and RNA silencing activities in infected and
systemic target tissues.
The particular subject of the thesis will be to validate changes in transcript abundance of virus-
responding candidate genes and to express promoter fusions to address the response of these genes in
infected plants and in response to systemic signal. The significance of these genes with respect to
systemic recombination and other responses shall be tested by reverse genetics using specific T-DNA
insertion mutations. The mutants will also be investigated with respect to changes in the transcription
profiles of other genes (qPCR, Affimetrix profiling) in order to identify genes downstream of the
signalling cascade. The data obtained in the frame of this thesis will be integrated and part of the datasets
within the HFSPO funded network and thus also be subject to bioinformatic evaluation.
We are seeking a highly motivated PhD student with a strong interest in virus-plant
interactions and plant signalling. The successful candidate is expected to hold a Diploma/Master
from a European or US university and experience in biochemistry and molecular biology would
represent an advantage. English language skills are required.
Contact: manfred.heinlein@ibmp-ulp.u-strasbg.fr.
Literature:
1
Heinlein Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 5, 543-552 (2002);
2
Boyko et al. Nat. Cell Biol. 2, 826-832 (2000);
3
Boyko et al.
Plant J 51, 589-603 (2007);
4
Brandner et al. Plant Physiol, in press (2008);
5
Kovalchuk et al. Nature 423, 760-762(2003).

Dr. Manfred Heinlein
Institut de Biologie Moléculaire des Plantes
12, rue du Général Zimmer,
67084 Strasbourg cedex, France
phone: 0033-3-88 41 72 58
fax: 0033-3-88 61 44 42
e-mail: manfred.heinlein@ibmp-ulp.u-strasbg.fr

http://ibmp.u-strasbg.fr

Scholarship Tags: Communication, France, Intercellular, PhD, plants, Position