How plants and microbes synchronize their daily rhythms to keep fit (DODD_J25ERC)
Key Details
- Application deadline
- 8 May 2025 (midnight UK time)
- Location
- John Innes Centre
- Funding type
- Directly Funded Project (Home and International)
- Start date
- 1 October 2025
- Mode of study
- Full-time
- Programme type
- PhD
Project description
Primary supervisor - Professor Antony Dodd
Did you know that almost all life on Earth, from plants to humans, has a 24-hour biological clock? Until recently, we thought that most bacteria- despite making up 12% of global biomass- lacked biological clocks. We have made a game-changing discovery: a true circadian clock in Bacillus subtilis, a non-photosynthetic bacterium. This challenges everything we thought we knew about bacterial life and its relationship with other organisms.
In this PhD, you will take this discovery further. Could bacteria and plants be synchronizing their clocks to benefit each other? We propose an entirely new concept, whereby bacteria and plants exchange resources in a rhythmic, cooperative cycle that enhances survival and fitness.
In this project, you will play a key role in uncovering the deep connections between bacterial and plant circadian rhythms. You will test how bacterial and plant circadian clocks influence each other’s fitness, and study how circadian rhythms impact stress tolerance and development. This will ultimately impact the close relationship between crops and soil health.
This PhD will provide extensive training in chronobiology, plant physiology, microbiology, and data analysis and interpretation. As part of the “MicroClock” programme funded through an ERC Synergy grant, you will benefit from being part of a large international team that is studying the B. subtilis circadian clock from molecular to ecological scales. Specifically, the project is in collaboration with the groups of Martha Merrow at LMU Munich, and Akos Kovács at Leiden University, and includes exciting travel opportunities to work with these collaborators.
If you’re an ambitious student excited about circadian biology, microbiomes, and cross-kingdom interactions, and are happy working within an international collaboration, this could be an ideal PhD opportunity.
Entry requirements
At least UK equivalence Bachelors (Honours) 2:1 or UK equivalence Master's degree. English Language requirement (Faculties of Science / Medicine and Health Sciences equivalent: IELTS 6.5 overall, 6 in each category).
Funding
This project is awarded with a 4-year fully funded European Research Council PhD studentship. Tuition fees are covered, and a stipend will be provided for each year of the studentship (2025/6 rate is £20,034.00). Research training support funding is available.