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Origin and early evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis and cyanobacteria

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Project Description

Oxygenic photosynthesis is the main energy input into the biosphere. It has sustained our civilization through agriculture and fossil fuels, and it has sustained a thriving biodiversity over billions of years. However, how and when oxygenic photosynthesis originated remain unresolved and controversial questions, blurring and obfuscating our understanding of the history of life on earth. In this doctoral research programme, you will investigate the origin, evolution and diversification of cyanobacteria and photosynthesis using phylogenomic, phylogenetic, and other bioinformatic approaches.

You will produce time-resolved trees calibrated with measured or calculated rates of genome evolution to supersede or complement fossil-calibrated ones. A key aspect of the project will be to measure or calculate rates of genome evolution across cyanobacteria and other related clades. There are different ways in which this can be achieved, ranging from direct measurements of evolution rates through mutation accumulation experiments in the lab to genomic and metagenomic comparative studies. You will be also encouraged to implement AI-based approaches to enhance deep-time divergence time estimation. Furthermore, the species-tree view of cyanobacteria evolution will be complemented with evolutionary studies of photosynthesis components and oxygen-using enzymes.

The project aims to provide the most robust and complete scenario for the evolution of photosynthesis through geological time.

Research themes
Project Specific Training

Training in genomics, phylogenomic, phylogenetic and bioinformatics work will be provided by the main supervisors, and by one-to-one instruction from the supervisor’s team. Training on cyanobacteria cultivation and mutation accumulation experiments will also be provided by the supervisory team. Training on AI and machine-learning method in the biosciences will be provided through access to external courses, workshops, or bootcamps at the lead supervisor’s expense.

Potential Career Trajectory

The project will develop you as an expert computational biologist and data analyst with reliable capacity for lab work in a bioinformatics and genomics context. Most of the skills you will develop are transferable. This will open many career opportunities both within academia, industry, government and public sector, NGOs, as well as in the agricultural, medical, biotechnological industry. A career trajectory in the consulting and advisory services are also options, as well as intellectual property and legal sector, education, and science communication. Any novel methodologies and tools you develop may also be of broad applicability beyond the questions of the project, which could lead to a spin out or other entrepreneurial activities.

Project supervisor/s
Tanai Cardona
School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences
QMUL
t.cardona@qmul.ac.uk
Anne Jungblut
Life Sciences
NHM
a.jungblut@nhm.ac.uk
Supervision balance
60:40