Combatting wheat take-all disease with in-field and synthetic microbial communities

The rhizosphere – the region of soil and associated microbes directly interacting with plant roots - is an area that is increasingly recognised for its role in plant health.

This is particularly relevant for take-all, the most devastating wheat root disease worldwide, which can reduce yields by up to 20%.

The importance of root microbial community in take-all symptom prevention is well established, as both bacterial and fungal species have been found which suppress take-all development.

However, the level of protection provided by these antagonists in field trials is highly variable, suggesting that it is the combination of abiotic factors, plant cultivar genetics and the broader microbial community context which is key.

Understanding how this combination can function to minimise disease development will be key to developing sustainable management strategies for take-all.

In this PhD project, you will:

• develop molecular lab and bioinformatics skills to analyse microbial community genetic diversity.
• analyse existing field data from the Watkins wheat landrace collection to inform, and potentially alter existing wheat synthetic microbial communities
• screen representatives of the Watkin’s collection for take-all suppression in the presence of different rhizosphere microbial communities
• conduct amplicon sequencing on the established communities to analyse how microbial communities are correlated with take-all severity

Using these insights, you will target key microbial players for isolation and perform microbiome swaps to interrogate what an ‘optimal’ community of bacteria and fungi looks like for wheat take-all suppression.

Joining the Neil Hall Group, you’ll work closely with Mark McMullan and Rowena Hill at the Earlham Institute, Simon Griffiths and Jake Malone at the John Innes Centre, and Kim Hammond-Kosack at Rothamsted Research – bringing together expertise in microbial genomics, wheat and landrace diversity, and microbial synthetic communities.

Application information:

• Apply by 23.59 on 02 December 2025
• Visit the NRPDTP website for further information on eligibility, funding and how to apply: https://biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/
• You can also visit: https://www.earlham.ac.uk/application-guidance

Related reading:

• Why study at the Earlham Institute?
• Living in Norfolk
• Life at the Earlham Institute