- Department / Institute
- Faculty of Biology, Plant Molecular Biology
- Subject area
- Genetics, evolutionary biology, microbiology
- Project title
- Enhancing photosynthesis by synthetic biology and adaptive laboratory evolution
- Name of supervisor
- Prof. Dario Leister
- Number of open positions
- 1
- Language requirements
- Proficiency in English
- Academic requirements
- 4-year Bachelor's plus Master's Degree; at the time of application, the last final exam should have taken place in the past 4 years.
- Study model
- Full doctoral study model: 36 or 48 months
Project description
In this project, parts of the light reactions of photosynthesis from very different species will be genetically combined in a model cyanobacterium. The aim is to improve photosynthesis with respect to its potential to use light of different wavelengths. In a complementary approach, we will use adaptive laboratory evolution to make photosynthetic organisms more tolerant to different stresses, such as high light or high temperature stress. Mutations will be identified by whole genome sequencing, characterised for their molecular effects and tested for their potential to increase stress tolerance in several species.
References
Hitchcock A, Hunter CN, Sobotka R, Komenda J, Dann M, Leister D (2022) Redesigning the photosynthetic light reactions to enhance photosynthesis - the PhotoRedesign consortium. Plant J. 109: 23-34. doi: 10.1111/tpj.15552.
For further information, please contact Dario Leister: leister@lmu.de