“Omics” phenotyping of symbionts: Gene regulation in bacterial symbionts of insect pests

Description

Insect pests of agriculture, forestry, textile production, and stored foodstuffs cause billions of dollars in production losses worldwide, threatening global food security and manufacturing supply chains. Two of the most destructive orders of insects are the Hemiptera (true bugs) and Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths). These pest insects have microbiomes that frequently include primary (essential) bacterial symbionts and/or facultative symbionts that contribute nutritional resources or protect against natural enemies. Other symbionts, such as the highly prevalent genus Wolbachia, can manipulate insect reproduction and have the potential to be used in environmentally-friendly pest control programmes. Both beneficial and detrimental phenotypes of symbionts are often encoded by genes on mobile elements such as bacteriophages and plasmids. In this project, you will investigate the interactions between symbionts and their mobilomes within insect pests, specifically aphids and moths. Applying cutting-edge methods such as Cappable-Seq, you will dissect the genetic mechanisms controlling gene expression from mobile elements to understand how they are regulated and could potentially be manipulated for pest control. Initial work will be conducted in insect cell lines available in the Tick Cell Biobank (https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/research/facilities/tick-cell-biobank) before moving into whole insect systems in laboratory colonies. The project will include a training programme in Cappable-Seq for several months at the New England Biolabs headquarters near Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

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