Postdoctoral Position "Seagrass-pathogen Interactions under Global Change"

Postdoctoral Position "Seagrass-pathogen Interactions under Global Change"

GEOMAR - Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research

Kiel, Germany

Background and Project Description

The position is embedded into the DFG Research Unit "PlantsCoChallenge" (speaker Prof. Dr. Eva Stukenbrock) that seeks to identify unified mechanisms of abiotic and biotic stress tolerance in a range of terrestrial and aquatic plants. Our model species is the widespread seagrass Zostera marina (eelgrass) which features broad tolerances to adverse abiotic conditions such as warming, as well as reducing, oxygen-free sediments. In contrast, the interacting role of biotic stressors, in particular pathogens such as endophytic protists, is currently not well understood. The objective of this project will be to examine how the plant integrates, responds and allocates resources to multiple stressors and to compare reactions in an evolutionary ecology framework. The integration of stress signals and of defense responses will be studied through state-of-the art omic approaches along with assessing microbiome changes. Through two central projects of the research unit, additional support in high-throughput microbiome analysis as well as in transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis along with systems biological approaches is provided. Access to pathogen isolates and to different populations of eelgrass are provided, as are experimental set-ups in gnotobiotic culture chambers. The successful candidate will closely cooperate with the group of Prof. Dr. Sabine Hilt at IGB Berlin on similar questions in the freshwater plant Stuckenia pectinata.

Qualification

required:

• a doctoral degree in biology or in a related subject;
• experience in plant-pathogen interactions or plant-microbe research;
• knowledge in plant physiology or plant stress ecology;
• proficiency in English (written and spoken).

desirable:

• experience in the design and execution of eco-evolutionary experiments;
• basic skills in scripting languages such as Python or PERL, or in multivariate statistics (R-package);
• experiences with metabolomic or transcriptomic analyses;
• knowledge on seagrasses or other macrophytes;
• knowledge in the basics of (coastal) marine ecology.