Understanding the effects of Natural Variation and Disease Stress on Meiotic Recombination in Arabidopsis thaliana
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Plant Sciences
Abstract
PhD project strategic theme: Bioscience for sustainable agriculture and food
Mapping meiotic recombination quantitative trait loci (qRTL) between Eurasian and African Arabidopsis thaliana accessions will utilise simple sequence length polymorphisms (SSLPs) to genotype different F2 individuals derived from the crossed. These crosses contain meiotic crossover reporters, meaning recombination phenotype can be compared to SSLP genotype data in order to perform a scan for QTLs influencing recombination. The direction of the project may evolve to look more closely at the centromeric regions as the project progresses, which show high levels of structural polymorphisms between accessions. Furthermore, the effect of disease and immunity signalling on meiotic recombination will be investigated. Arabidopsis plants will be infected with both natural and generalist pathogens and the next generation will be analysed for any changes in recombination frequency using fluorescent or molecular markers.
Mapping meiotic recombination quantitative trait loci (qRTL) between Eurasian and African Arabidopsis thaliana accessions will utilise simple sequence length polymorphisms (SSLPs) to genotype different F2 individuals derived from the crossed. These crosses contain meiotic crossover reporters, meaning recombination phenotype can be compared to SSLP genotype data in order to perform a scan for QTLs influencing recombination. The direction of the project may evolve to look more closely at the centromeric regions as the project progresses, which show high levels of structural polymorphisms between accessions. Furthermore, the effect of disease and immunity signalling on meiotic recombination will be investigated. Arabidopsis plants will be infected with both natural and generalist pathogens and the next generation will be analysed for any changes in recombination frequency using fluorescent or molecular markers.
