Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research

Project description:

This project follows up on our publications describing a circadian clock in Bacillus subtilis, a nonphotosynthetic prokaryote (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abe2086; DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adh1). Circadian clocks are biological timing systems that anticipate the regular physical cycles in the environment. They serve to take advantage of opportunities, such as food sources, or to avoid dangers, such as protection from UV light and thus they enhance fitness. Circadian clocks are thought to be widely pervasive throughout nature – for instance, in every cell in our own bodies and across eukaryotes and even in cyanobacteria – but the last frontier has been the clock in non-photosynthetic bacteria. Since our publications on this topic have come out, we have developed additional assays showing clock regulation (ring formation on soft agar, under review; oscillations in chemostat cultures and accompanying extensive genome-wide clock regulation of transcription, manuscript in
preparation).

A key, ongoing project in our lab is a mutant screen to discover the clock mechanism in B. subtilis. This LMU CSC PhD student position will be integrated into this project. As mutants are identified, knock-out strains will be generated and assayed in the catalogue of clock regulated assays that we have developed. In this manner, we will assemble the molecular mechanism of this circadian clock. The mechanism is guaranteed to be unique because B. subtilis has no known clock gene homologs in its’ genome. The student will also use candidate clock genes to develop fluorescent reporter strains for performing single-cell microscopy, thus refining insights on molecular mechanisms. The work thus involves biological assays, microscopy, organization skills, molecular and micro-biology. The extensive resources that support B. subtilis (e.g. SubtiWiki and knockout libraries) are a big
plus for this project, enabling fast progress.

Our small team is interdisciplinary and international. We are located in the center of the city, and are part of the medical faculty (pre-clinic). The successful candidate will become an expert in the science of circadian biology and its’ new development into Microbiology. The lab is funded by the DFG and the ERC.