Doctoral School - recruitment

Introduction

Growth and productivity of crop plants are affected by both, symbionts and phytopathogens co-infecting the same host. Solanaceous crops establish symbiotic association between their roots and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). This endomycorrhizal association provides plants with nutritional compounds and increases host resistance to both phytopathogen attack and development of phytopathogen-induced disease. Viruses, that are transmitted by insects, belong to the most important phytopathogens of Solanaceae, e.g. potato and tobacco. The application of insecticides seems to be ineffective in viral infection control. New, potentially successful strategies to manage viruses may involve the utilization of AMF acting as bioprotective factor.

The main goals of the study are: (i) to determine the effect of endomycorrhiza on the development of virus-induced diseases in Solanaceae, (ii) to check the ability of AMF to inhibit or alleviate the expression of viral infection symptoms, (iii) to study the application potential of AMF as antiviral plant protection factor.

We hypothesise that: (i) endomycorrhiza decreases the susceptibility of solanaceous crops to virus infection by stimulation of plant immune system, (ii) AMF improve the performance of virus-infected plants by alleviating the disease symptoms and increasing the crop yield.

Methodology: To test hypotheses the following analyses are planned: (i) examination which AMF species are natural colonizers of solonaceous crop under field conditions, (ii) selection of compatible AMF-plant system for laboratory experiments, (iii) preparation of pot experiments and field experiments with selected AMF species, solanaceous plants and different plant viruses, (iv) examination of growth parameters and virus infection incidence rate in mycorrhizal plants.

Expected results: It is expected that the study will extend the understanding of interaction between endomycorrhiza and plant viruses. The results will enable practical application of endomycorrhizal fungi for alleviation of virus negative impact on solanaceous crops productivity. Development of new microbiological methods for plant bioprotection from viruses is of great environmental, social and economical significance as partial withdrawal from the use of chemical protection agents is a priority.

A doctoral student who does not hold a degree of doctor shall receive a doctoral scholarship.

The amount of a monthly doctoral scholarship shall be at least:1) 37% of a professor’s salary – up to the month in which the mid-term evaluation was conducted*; 2) 57% of a professor’s salary – after the month in which the mid-term evaluation was conducted*.

[*According to the legal status in 2020, the scholarship is gross: 1) 2.371,70 PLN, 2) 3.653,70 PLN.]