New PhD thesis to start in our lab

Phenotypic plasticity and adaptive potential under abiotic stresses in the phytopatogenic fungus Fusarium graminearum

Supervisor Marie Foulongne-Oriol / funding: Région Nouvelle Aquitaine and  SPE department at INRAE.

Climate changes are expected to greatly modify the population dynamic of plant pathogen. Understanding how pathogens are able to adapt to modifications of their environment is crucial to anticipate the emergence of new disease epidemics. Fusarium graminearum is one of the main causal agents of the Fusarium Head Blight, a worldwide disease affecting cereal cultures, whose presence can lead to contaminated grains with chemically stable and harmful mycotoxins. The objective of this PhD project is to study the implication of the phenotypic plasticity of F. graminearum in the adaptive response of the fungus to abiotic stresses mimicking climate change (temperature, water availability, CO2 concentration). First, the phenotypic plasticity will be characterized under a range of environmental parameters on a collection of F. graminearum strains. Second, the genetic determinism of the plasticity will be studied through population genomics approach using either natural population (GWAs) or experimental population (QTL detection). The possible epigenetic control of the plasticity would be explored using KO mutant strains for targeted genes.

Keywords: climate changes, mycotoxin, evolution, filamentous fungi, abiotic stresses

Profile and skills required: Skills in microbiology, molecular biology, quantitive genetics, bioinformatics, statistic.

For application: E-mail to Marie Foulongne-Oriol (marie.foulongne-oriol@inrae.fr) (copy to florence.forget@inrae.fr), with your CV including two contacts recommendation and a motivation letter as soon as possible.

More information (in French)  Download