Circadian rhythms in plant-microbe interaction

"This project aims to study endophytic root microbes and how they are influenced by circadian rhythms. Some crop plants, particularly legumes, form mutualistic associations with soil bacteria in which the bacteria provide the plant with nitrogen in the form of ammonia. This allows these crops to be grown without nitrogenous fertiliser input.

Previous work in the lab showed that clock gene mutations in the model legume Medicago truncatula negatively impact root nodule development. I will be investigating if mutations in other clock genes cause similar phenotypes.

The other arm of the project is to develop methods to study endophytes in barley, an important crop plant which is also closely related to wheat. These methods will allow us to investigate whether there is circadian variation in the endophytes, and may ultimately contribute to the development of grain crop systems which can produce their own nitrogen."