Bacterial cell envelope remodelling in Rhizobium leguminosarum: contribution to symbiosis and resistance to abiotic stress

该项目的目的是研究Ldts如何重塑细菌细胞包膜，促进共生（豌豆和菜豆）和抵抗非生物胁迫（热，渗透压或酸性条件）。我们还将研究根瘤菌分离株的肽聚糖结构和动力学，以了解细胞组成如何影响土壤中的持久性和适应性。该项目将为可持续农业工程根瘤菌菌株奠定基础。该多学科项目涉及3名具有互补专业知识的学术主管，分别位于谢菲尔德（大部分实验工作将在那里进行），约克和牛津。学生将受益于生物化学（用于肽聚糖结构分析的HPLC和质谱法，重组蛋白表达，酶测定），细菌遗传学（突变体的构建），比较基因组学和根瘤菌-植物相互作用的培训。学生还将在国外与工业合作伙伴（加州的ProteinGlass）合作4个月，为开发专门用于“肽糖组学”分析的软件工具做出贡献。总体而言，学生将获得一套全面的技能，以探索细菌分子和细胞水平以及与植物相互作用的机制见解。

The aim of this project is to investigate how bacterial cellenvelope remodelling by Ldts contributes to symbiosis (inpea and bean) and to resistance to abiotic stress (heat,osmotic pressure, or acidic conditions). We will alsoinvestigate peptidoglycan structure and dynamics acrossrhizobium isolates to understand how cell envelopecomposition impacts persistence and fitness in the soil.This project will lay the foundation to engineer Rhizobiumstrains for sustainable agriculture.This multidisciplinary project involves 3 academicsupervisors with complementary expertise, based inSheffield (where most of the experimental work will becarried out), York and Oxford. The student will benefit froma training in biochemistry (HPLC and mass spectrometryfor peptidoglycan structural analysis, recombinant proteinexpression, enzymatic assays), bacterial genetics(construction of mutants), comparative genomics andrhizobium-plant interactions. The student will also spend 4months abroad working with the industrial partner (ProteinMetrics, California) to contribute to the development ofsoftware tools dedicated to "peptidoglycomics" analyses.Overall, the student will acquire a comprehensive set ofskills to explore mechanistic insights at molecular andcellular level in bacteria, and in the context of theinteraction with the plant.