Crops & Soil - Crosstalk between the circadian clock and innate immune system in plants

Involvement of the circadian clock in many aspects of human health is well recognised, but circadian input in plant immunity is not as well understood. As agricultural losses from plant disease are significant, fundamental plant health research contributes to the human challenges of providing the increasing population with food. Plant immune pathways include key post-translational events, notably kinase signalling cascades and redox-based modifications associated with oxidative/reductive bursts, which could constitute entry points for clock regulation of defence signalling.
This PhD project uses the interaction between the plant Arabidopsis and the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas to test the specific points of cross talk between immune pathways and the circadian clock.
Studying crosstalk between the highly complex networks of clock and immune signalling constitutes a challenging project that will develop the candidate in advanced techniques from both fields, including time series luciferase imaging of clock gene expression, detailed qRT-PCR experiments, and immune assays. Additionally, the project will involve substantial amounts of protein biochemistry, including advanced immunoprecipitation techniques. The candidate will take ownership or their projects, show initiative, and communicate effectively between the van Ooijen and Spoel laboratories (clock research and immune research, respectively).