PHD

- PhD: viral manipulation of caterpillar behaviour in a multidimensional context - Plenty of variety and challenges - Pleasant working atmosphere - Time for personal development Many parasites, including viruses, manipulate the behaviour of host organisms to increase their own transmission, linking to the concept of the 'extended phenotype'. Fascinating examples include behavioural manipulation of caterpillars by baculoviruses, with infected caterpillars expressing hyperactivity as well as climbing to elevated positions on plants just prior to death. These behavioural alterations have a crucial evolutionary benefit to the virus, enhancing its transmission. Until now, parasitic manipulation of host behaviour has been investigated as a bidirectional interaction between the manipulative parasite and the host. While the possible influence of the host or parasite microbiome on host behavioural manipulation is starting to be recognized, the influence of the host's resident virome has so far been ignored. The past decades, evidence has accumulated that insects harbour a wide range of covert virus infections that do not cause any signs of disease. In this project, you will study manipulative parasite-host interactions in a multidimensional context, by investigating how covert virus infections modulate crosstalk between manipulative baculoviruses and their caterpillar host. You will start with analysing the phenotype of baculovirus-induced behavioural manipulation across several closely and more distantly related baculoviruses and lepidopteran hosts, and determine the impact of the insect's virome on the manipulation. Next, you will investigate in detail the molecular mechanisms underlying the manipulation, especially focusing on changes induced in the lepidopteran central nervous system (CNS). You will specifically perform an in-depth analysis of viral CNS invasion and determine localisation of baculoviruses as well as covert virus infe...

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