PhD Studentship: CENTA 2027-B01 Can a tree remember a drought? Understanding the mechanisms of tree memory in Birmingham

Trees are long living, sessile organisms that represent a fundamental component of most of earth ecosystems. Being immobile during their life, trees need to efficiently adapt to changes of environment and to stresses, in order to reach maturity and reproduction.

Recent advances in genomics studies are increasingly showing that environmental information can be recorded at molecular level on DNA through epigenetic marks. Epigenetics studies molecular changes of DNA (mostly DNA methylation) in response to developmental or environmental stimuli, which does not involve a change of the DNA sequence itself. These changes can be inherited during cell division and are particularly stable in plants, where they represent the base of an epigenetic “memory”, which remains encoded in biological tissues and can be transmitted to progenies.

In trees, wood is produced by plant cells that lignify and die to provide physical functions such as mechanical support, storage and water conduction. However, part of their DNA is preserved unaltered, and retains the epigenetic information encoded in the cells at the moment they died. In temperate zones, most trees produce one growth-ring each year, so that the entire period of a tree’s life remains impressed in its wood material. As wood growth is affected by environmental conditions, trees have marks of past interactions with the environment recorded into their wood as they grow, at both physical and molecular levels.

This project aims to understand how trees use environmental information to adapt to changing conditions. This will be done by extracting DNA from different parts of tree rings and comparing their epigenetic profiles. The PhD researcher will compare the DNA methylation from different tree rings and associate epigenetic changes to historical and ecological records of drought. This will allow for the first time to connect tree molecular and physical responses to the environment in tree rings, creating a direct connection among dendrochronology, ecology and epigenetic data in trees.

Funding notes: This project is offered through the CENTA3 DLA, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Annual stipend tuition fees (at home-fee level) and Research Training Support Grant.

Academic requirements: At least a 2:1 at UK BSc level or a pass at UK MSc level or equivalent. International students are eligible for studentships to a maximum of 30% of the cohort. Funding does not cover any additional costs relating to moving or residing in the UK. International applicants must fulfil the University of Birmingham’s international student entry requirements, including English language.

References: Zeng, Z., Raffaello, T., Liu, M.-X., and Asiegbu, F.O. (2018). Co-extraction of genomic DNA & total RNA from recalcitrant woody tissues for next-generation sequencing studies. Future Science OA 4, FSO309.