Description du sujet de thèse

Iron (Fe) is an essential micronutrient for all living organisms. Therefore, organisms have evolved highly efficient mechanisms to acquire Fe and often compete for Fe acquisition. Such competition occurs in the context of microbial infection, whereby the host restricts Fe availability to the invading pathogen, a defense strategy known as nutritional immunity. The signaling mechanisms involved in plant nutritional immunity have not yet been deciphered. In a screen for mutants affected in Fe homeostasis, we have identified a dominant mutation affecting a gene encoding an LRR receptor involved in plant immunity. The objective of the PhD project supported by the ANR project Immuniron is to characterize the role of this receptor in Fe homeostasis and in the cross talk between Fe homeostasis and immunity. The PhD candidate will investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the effect of mutations in the LRR receptor on Fe nutrition using a wide array of approaches including genetics, transcriptomics, metabolomics and interactomics. The project is expected to shed light on the molecular basis of the cross talk between Fe homeostasis and the immune response.

Contexte de travail

The candidate will work in the team « Integrated approaches to ion transport » (12 members, https://www.i2bc.paris-saclay.fr/spip.php?article673) which is part of the department of Cell Biology of the Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC: https://www.i2bc.paris-saclay.fr/spip.php?article312&lang=en) on the research campus of Gif-sur-Yvette. The project is funded by the National Agency for Research (ANR).