Job Opening: Post-doc Position no. 1 at the Laboratory of Plant-Microbe-Environment Interactions, Toulouse area (France)
Topic: Effect of microbiota genetics on pathogen-pathogen interactions
General Information
Workplace: Auzeville-Tolosane (France)
Contract Period: 36 months
Expected date of employment: 1 April 2025
Proportion of work: Full Time
Remuneration: Between 2847.43 and 4023.44 € gross monthly depending on experience
Desired level of education: Doctorate
Context
In the PATHOCOM project (https://figshare.com/articles/preprint/PATHOCOM_proposal/13174337), we aim to set up a program that integrates large-scale field observations of microbiota/pathobiota in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana with ultra-high-throughput experimental tests of host-dependent interactions among microbes, allowing predicting stable pathogen-pathogen-microbiota interactions by modeling. In this context, this postdoctoral project is part of the third step of the PATHOCOM project, which aims to test, among others, the effect of the microbiota genetics on pairwise interactions between 18 bacterial pathogenic strains (9 strains of the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae and 9 strains of the bacterial pathogen Xanthomonas campestris). To achieve these goals, the recruited post-doc will (i) set up large GWAS in in vitro conditions, and (ii) functionally validate several QTLs using last-generation tools of bacterial genome editing. The recruited post-doc will work with a panel of 200 commensal bacterial species and 74 strains of the commensal bacteria Pseudomonas siliginis, which have all been whole-genome sequenced using long-read sequencing technology and isolated from natural populations of A. thaliana. The recruited post-doc will benefit from tools allowing high-throughput phenotyping (pipetting robots, barcoded pathogenic strains, barcoded P. siliginis strains, barcoded plant lines, and high-throughput imaging of vegetative growth…). This 24-month postdoctoral project (with an extension of 12 months) is funded by the ERC (European Research Council) and will be carried out as part of an interdisciplinary and collaborative project with the research groups of Detlef Weigel (Max Planck Institute, Tübingen, Germany) and Joy Bergelson (New York University, USA).
Activities
The postdoc will be in charge of setting up GWA mapping experiments to test the effect of 200 commensal bacterial species and 74 P. siliginis strains on the pairwise interactions between 18 pathogenic strains under in vitro conditions. The post-doc will also be in charge of functionally validating several QTLs using last-generation tools of bacterial genome editing. To achieve these goals, the post-doc will be able to rely on a collective of several people working on tasks close to those mentioned for this profile (e.g. engineer, assistant engineer, and technician).
Skills
Applicants should have excellent skills in (i) microbiology, (ii) quantitative genetics, (iii) experimental designs for experiments with thousands of plants, and (iv) statistical analysis of large phenotypic data sets. Skills in molecular biology to functionally validate candidate genes underlying bacterial QTLs will be a plus. Fluent English is required.
Work Environment
The LIPME offers an excellent scientific environment of teams working on plant-microbe or plant-plant interactions (https://en.lipme.fr/). As a member of the LabEx (Laboratory of Excellence) TULIP (https://www.labex-tulip.fr/eng) and of the FR AIB Research Federation (http://www.fraib.fr/), the LIPME also benefits from key interactions with other relevant plant and ecology labs, local facilities and platforms (including in imaging and high-throughput phenotyping).
For more information about the ECOGEN team: https://en.lipme.fr/ecogen-1
Application: More information can be found at: https://emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/UMR2594-FABROU-011/Default.aspx?lang=EN
The application deadline has been postponed to 18 January 2025.