How do plant immune receptors evolve to outrace pathogens?

植物部署了一个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（NLR）提供病原体识别和引发防御反应所必需的遗传多样性。植物NLR靶向重测序技术的进步，一种称为RenSeq的技术，结合最新的测序技术和进化遗传分析，首次允许明确定义任何植物物种中的NLR。该奖学金的目标是了解植物家族中免疫受体的进化。候选人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），芭蕉科（香蕉），芸香科（柑橘）。该方法将联合收割机Renseq和生物信息学相结合，以识别和分析植物免疫受体。目标植物将包括作物，它们的野生亲缘植物和其他物种，这些物种需要填补我们对植物免疫的自然历史和进化的知识空白。候选人将设计Renseq捕获检测并分析使用最新测序技术获得的数据。将为每个植物家族建立分析，确定共享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.