Soil microbes and plant health

ESR code: 
ESR7
Supervisors: 
Prof Lars Hestbjerg Hansen (Aarhus University)
Host instution: 
Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark
Duration: 
36 months

Soil and plant associated microbes that influence plant health in many ways. In this PhD project we compare soil and plant microbiota between healthy and sick plants to learn about interactions between the protective and infective microbial agents in wine agriculture. A targeted effort will be made to find microbiological cures for known wine pests (e.g. Phyloxera). We will follow the impact of using Bio-pesticides on the microbial community using Illumina sequencing. Both shot-gun and amplicon sequencing will be applied to the microbiota as in ESR6 and the PhD student will be collaboratively trained for bioinformatics learning with other partners in MICROWINE. A special focus will be given to sequencing the bacteriophage and mycovira, regulating the microbial populations. These protective bacteria vira have potential applications as future Bio pesticides, preventing infections in different levels in the production of wine.

Further information

ESR at work: 
Early Stage Researcher: 
Ifigeneia Kyrkou
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