Understanding the role of environment in determining rice blast disease outcomes

A PhD project with the University of Plymouth
Paddy field landscape with ripening crops in autumn sunlight and yellow rice ears and rice

Project background

Rice blast is a devastating disease of cultivated rice caused by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. M. oryzae presents a threat to global food security as it is ubiquitously found where rice is grown and reduces yields by 15-30% each year. M. oryzae and rice also present a tractable study system for understanding plant-pathogen interactions, with well-developed molecular and genetic tools and a wide body of literature elucidating the infection process. Throughout the course of disease progression, M. oryzae shows co-ordinated growth through important life stages; penetration of the plant, the initial biotrophic stage of infection, into the later necrotrophic phase and eventual production of conidial spores. There is an open question as to the role of environment, including the physiological state of the plant in determining M. oryzae development and so also disease outcomes. This studentship will look at fungal development in plants in a range of environmental conditions.
Figure 1: Magnaporthe oryzae development in living rice cells.
Figure 1: Magnaporthe oryzae development in living rice cells.

Project aims and methods

The project will ask fundamental questions of cross-kingdom interactions between plants and fungi which are relevant to plant pathology in a changing environment. 
  1. How does fungal development vary in different environmental contexts?
  2. How do the host and pathogen influence fungal developmental responses to environmental change?
  3. How resilient to environmental change is M. oryzae?
The student will use a variety of molecular and physiological techniques to explore M. oryzae development during infection and will predominantly use confocal microscopy, chlorophyll fluorescence measurements and molecular analyses.
 

Eligibility and candidate requirements

  • We encourage candidates with a strong interest in plant pathology and strengths in data processing and analysis to apply. 
  • Data analysis skills in R or Python (or similar) are desirable. 
  • Experience in image analysis is desirable.
 

Student training

The supervisors have expertise covering all aspects of the project, namely: 
  1. confocal and other microscopic acquisition, 
  2. image analysis, and
  3. plant and fungal biology.
The student will use a variety of molecular and physiological techniques to explore M. oryzae development during infection and gain expertise in plant pathology and biological imaging, including confocal microscopy and image analysis.
 

Key recent papers by the supervisory team

Littlejohn, G.R et al (2021) Chloroplast immunity illuminated. New Phytol. 229: 3088-3107. 
Griffin C., Littlejohn G.R. (2020) Diurnal, Circadian and photomorphogenic analyses in Magnaporthe oryzae. In Magnaporthe oryzae: Methods and Protocols (Ed. Jacob, S.), Springer 356:161-172.
Littlejohn G.R et al(2014) An update: improvements in imaging perfluorocarbon-mounted plant leaves with implications for studies of plant pathology, physiology, development and cell biology. Front. Plant Sci. 5:140
If you wish to discuss this project further informally, please email the supervisory team. We are excited about this project and happy to answer any questions you may have.

Supervisory team