Applications are invited for a Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund PhD scholarship at AgResearch and the Institute of Fundamental Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
Evolution Of The Archaeal Cell Wall: Structural Biology And Biochemistry Of Archaeal Cell Wall Synthetic Enzymes “The writing is on the wall: Elucidating the deep evolutionary links between cell wall synthesis in bacteria and methanogenic archaea”. The project will investigate the early evolution of cell walls in methanogenic archaea. Certain methanogenic archaea contain a pseudomurein cell wall, which is structurally analogous to bacterial murein (e.g. peptidoglycan), but there are important differences in the chemistry between the two polymers. Pseudomurein-containing methanogens use only L-amino acids, contain an archaeal-specific sugar and use several unusual peptide bonds. Surprisingly, genetic and sequence analyses suggests that the two cell wall synthesis pathways share a number of distantly-related enzymes and therefore share a deep evolutionary history. This PhD project will investigate these deep evolutionary connections using thermophilic methanogens as model organisms and will focus on the synthesis of the glycan backbone of the methanogen cell walls. A separate PhD position in the overall project has been filled will investigate (in parallel) the synthesis of the cross-linking peptide. The scholarship is available now, candidates are encouraged to apply (cover letter, CV & academic record) as soon as possible (closing date is September 5th, 2014). Applicants must meet the requirements for entry into the Massey PhD program. The candidates will ideally have a strong interest and research background in structural biology and biochemistry. The stipend is $NZ 30,500 per year for three years and the Massey University fees are also paid from the grant. The primary supervisors include Dr Ron Ronimus (AgResearch) and Dr Andrew Sutherland-Smith (IFS, Massey University). The Marsden project also includes collaboration with Professor William Martin, University of Dusseldorf, Germany. Interested persons can contact principle investigator Dr Ron Ronimus (ron.roni...@agresearch.co.nz, phone (+64-6-351-8036) or Fax (+64-6-351-8003). Alternatively, interested persons can contact Dr Andrew Sutherland-Smith (a.j.sutherland-sm...@massey.ac.nz). Andrew Sutherland-Smith, PhD Biochemistry, Biotechnology & Biomedical Science Institute of Fundamental Sciences Massey University Private Bag 11222 Palmerston North 4442 New Zealand Phone: +6463569099 x84701
