Postdoc: Molecular plant-pathogen interactions

A postdoctoral position is available for three years in the field of molecular biology of plant pathogen interactions with the Max Planck research group “Environmental Genomics” headed by Prof. Eva H. Stukenbrock. The Max Planck group is affiliated with the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön and the Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel in the North of Germany. The position is compensated at TV-L 13 (depending on qualifications), covers 38,7h/week and includes teaching. Start of the position is January 2016. Background We study the evolution and specialization of pathogens to new hosts and new environments, and integrate functional and experimental analyses with evolutionary genomics and transcriptome analyses to dissect the adaptive processes in plant pathogens. The project outlined for this post doc position aims at understanding the underlying molecular basis of host specialization of a fungal plant pathogen. As model system we use a group of closely related grass pathogens, Zymoseptoria spp., including the prominent wheat pathogen Z. tritici. Using evolutionary genomics and comparative transcriptome analyses, we have identified a number of candidate genes, which may have been instrumental for the specialization to distinct grass hosts. This includes genes, which have either diverged extremely between pathogen species, or genes, which show host-specific gene regulation. So far the functional role, of these genes as host determinants is unknown, but...
Source: Fungal Genomes and Comparative Genomics - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Tags: postdoc Max Planck Institute Zymoseptoria Source Type: blogs