Post-doc : Genetic and ecophysiological analysis of root plasticity in pea in response to water deficit

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INRAE presentation

The French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE) is a major player in research and innovation. It is a community of 12,000 people with 272 research, experimental research, and support units located in 18 regional centres throughout France. Internationally, INRAE is among the top research organisations in the agricultural and food sciences, plant and animal sciences, as well as in ecology and environmental science. It is the world’s leading research organisation specialising in agriculture, food and the environment. INRAE’s goal is to be a key player in the transitions necessary to address major global challenges. Faced with a growing world population, climate change, resource scarcity, and declining biodiversity, the Institute has a major role to play in building solutions and supporting the necessary acceleration of agricultural, food and environmental transitions.

Work environment, missions and activities

Work environment, missions and activities

You will be hosted in the INRAE Agroecology multidisciplinary research unit in Dijon (https://www6.dijon.inra.fr/umragroecologie), in the LEGae cluster working on “Legumes Ecophysiology and Genetics for agroecology”.

You will be working on the exciting new ANR-funded (France2030) OPTILEG project “Optimization of microbial interactions for sustainable production of legume proteins, beneficial for the environment and health”, which started in April 2024. The aim of this 6-year project is to optimize the legume interactions with beneficial microorganism to promote protein production at low input levels for an environmental-health co-benefit. Mobilizing knowledge on symbioses and beneficial microbial interactions accumulated over the last 20 years, this multi-disciplinary project addresses different levels of organization (from the cell to the cropping system) for its finalized objective.

The postdoctoral position will be inserted in the work package “Genetic improvement of legume drought resilience for symbiotic capacity”, and will specifically address the task entitled “Genetic diversity of symbiotic pea (Pisum sativum) challenged with drought stress.” The main objective is to elucidate the genetic control of the nodulated root system architecture in response to water stress in order to improve the resilience of pea to drought in terms of water and N nutrition.

You will be responsible for characterizing a pea diversity panel of 150 genotyped pea accessions  with respect to the plasticity of the root system architecture (RSA) and symbiotic N₂-fixing nodulation during a soil water stress and its subsequent recovery period. You will phenotype this collection on the Serres-4PMI high throughput phenotyping platform under water stress conditions using RhizoTubes© for the accurate quantification of RSA traits (number of roots, root angles, location of nodules…).  You will carry out Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) on these traits and their plasticity to uncover genetic loci controlling root/nodule plasticity in response to a water stress.

You will author scientific papers and disseminate research findings at project meetings and national and international conferences.

Training and skills

- Recommended training: PhD in quantitative plant genetics

- Knowledge required:

Solid background in quantitative genetics, statistics

Good ability to acquire and process large datasets related to the biological understanding of complex processes.

Fluent use of R statistical software

Record of delivering, presenting and publishing research

- Experience required:

Experience of GWAS analysis

- Skills sought:

Excellent communication skills

Organization & time management skills

Autonomy

Teamwork

Creativity

Training and skills

PhD in quantitative plant genetics

INRAE's life quality

By joining our teams, you benefit from (depending on the type of contract and its duration):

- up to 30 days of annual leave + 15 days "Reduction of Working Time" (for a full time);
- parenting support: CESU childcare, leisure services;
- skills development systems: training, career advise;
- social support: advice and listening, social assistance and loans;
- holiday and leisure services: holiday vouchers, accommodation at preferential rates;
- sports and cultural activities;
- collective catering.

How to apply

I send my CV and my motivation letter