About the Project
Background
Natural environments are changing rapidly due to anthropogenic climate change. How populations respond to these changes determines whether they adapt to more stressful environments via plasticity and/or evolution, or whether they become extinct. This creates an urgent need to understand the physiological mechanisms that regulate organismal responses to environmental stress. Recent discoveries have suggested that organisms may transfer environmentally induced phenotypic changes to multiple generations of their descendants through non-genetic mechanisms. This phenomenon, called transgenerational epigenetic inheritance, has transformed the way we think about evolutionary processes, and the effect of environments on natural populations. However, much about this process is still unknown. This project asks whether the activation of critical cellular stress responses is transmitted between generations; whether this transmission confers increased survival of populations in stressful environments, and enhanced Darwinian fitness; and how this inheritance is mechanistically achieved.
Methodology
You will determine whether key cellular stress responses can be transmitted via transgenerational non-genetic inheritance following exposure of parental animals to environmental stressors. You will then establish whether this transgenerational inheritance enhances resistance of populations to environmental stress, and whether inherited stress response activation promotes individual fitness. Finally, you will explore the mechanistic basis for this inheritance by using scRNA-seq to establish a transcriptomic signature for stress response inheritance, and by screening candidate regulators for their roles in this process. You will use Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism to explore these effects - the premier system for the study of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. Together, these approaches will define a mechanism by which cellular responses to stressful environments can be non-genetically inherited, and determine whether this inheritance serves an adaptive purpose.
Training
You will gain a wide range of skills in experimental design, statistical analysis, bioinformatics, scientific writing and presentation. You will also build expertise in evolutionary biology, cell biology, and physiological techniques. In addition, you will participate in external training courses and conferences, local seminars, research discussion groups and journal clubs.
Person specification
We are looking for an enthusiastic and highly motivated individual with a strong interest in evolution, ecology, genetics, and stress response biology.
Entry Requirements
At least UK equivalence Bachelors (Honours) 2:1. English Language requirement (Faculty of Science equivalent: IELTS 6.5 overall, 6 in each category)
Mode of Study
Full-time or Part-time
Start Date
1 October 2027
References
De-Souza, E.A., Thompson, M.A., Taylor, R.C. (2023). Olfactory chemosensation extends lifespan through TGF-β signaling and UPR activation. Nature Aging, https://doi.org/10.1038/s[contact details available in the full listing]
Ivimey-Cook, E.R., Sales, K., Carlsson, H., Immler, S., Chapman, T., Maklakov, A.A. (2021) Transgenerational fitness effects of lifespan extension by dietary restriction in Caenorhabditis elegans. Proc R Soc B, https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.[contact details available in the full listing]
Harris, I., Duxbury, E.M.L., Chapman, T., Immler, S., Maklakov, A.A. (2026) Evolutionary trade-offs between intergenerational and transgenerational fitness effects. Evolution Letters, online, https://doi.org/10.1093/evlett/qrag031
Özbey, N.P., Imanikia, S., Krueger, C., Hardege, I., Morud Lekholm, J., Sheng, M., Schafer, W.R., Casanueva, M.O., Taylor, R.C. (2020). Tyramine Acts Downstream of Neuronal XBP-1s to Coordinate Inter-Tissue UPRER Activation and Behavior in C. elegans. Developmental Cell, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.[contact details available in the full listing]
Zhang, Q., Tian, Y. (2022) Molecular insights into the transgenerational inheritance of stress memory. Journal of Genetics and Genomics, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jgg.[contact details available in the full listing]
