How do plant immune receptors evolve to outrace pathogens?

植物部署了一种复杂的免疫系统来检测和解除快速进化的病原体。Nb-LRR植物免疫受体(NLRs)为病原体识别和诱导防御反应提供了必需的遗传多样性。被称为RenSeq的植物NLRs定向重新测序技术的进步，与最新的测序技术和进化遗传分析相结合，首次能够明确地定义任何植物物种的NLRs。这项研究的目标是了解植物家族间的免疫受体进化。考生将分析至少六个植物科，包括蔷薇科(草莓和苹果)、禾本科(燕麦)、藜科(甜菜)、茜草科(咖啡)、番茄科(香蕉)、芸香科(柑橘)。该方法将结合Renseq和生物信息学来识别和分析植物免疫受体。目标植物将包括农作物、它们的野生近亲和其他物种，这些物种需要填补我们在植物免疫的自然历史和进化方面的知识空白。应聘者将设计Renseq捕获分析，并使用最新的测序技术分析获得的数据。将为每个植物家族建立分析，确定共享领域架构和扩展的子家族。候选人将评估驯化对植物免疫受体进化的贡献。

Plants deploy a sophisticated immune system to detect and disarm rapidly evolving pathogens. The NB-LRR plant immune receptors (NLRs) provide genetic diversity necessary for pathogen recognition and elicitation of defence responses. Advancements of the targeted re-sequencing of plant NLRs, a technique called RenSeq, combined with latest sequencing technologies and evolutionary genetic analyses allow for the first time to unambiguously define NLRs in any plant species. The goal of the studentship is to understand immune receptor evolution across plant families. The candidate will analyse at least six plant families including Rosaceae (strawberry & apple), Poaceae (oats), Chenopodiaceae (sugarbeet), Rubiaceae (coffee), Musaceae (banana), Rutaceae(citrus). The methodology will combine Renseq and bioinformatics to identify and analyse plant immune receptors. The targeted plants will include crops, their wild relatives and other species needed to fill the gaps in our knowledge of the natural history and evolution of plant immunity. The candidate will design Renseq capture assays and analyse the data obtained with the latest sequencing technologies. The analyses will be established for each plant family, identifying shared domain architectures and expanded sub-families. The candidate will evaluate contribution of domestication towards the evolution of plant immune receptors.