PhD Studentship: Where Does RNA go in the Cold? Visualising Coolair RNA Inside Plant Cells

Plants cannot escape changes in their environment and must continually adjust their growth and development in response to temperature. Successful propagation of winter annual plants relies on vernalization, where prolonged winter cold triggers epigenetic modifications to ensure plants flower in spring. At the heart of this response is FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC), a gene whose activity is progressively switched off during winter. This process involves COOLAIR, a family of anti-sense, long non-coding RNAs produced from the FLC locus. Although we know that COOLAIR responds dynamically to cold, we understand much less about where these RNA molecules go within individual plant cells and how their location contributes to their function

This PhD will use cutting-edge plant RNA imaging and advanced fluorescence microscopy to visualise COOLAIR within Arabidopsis cells. The student will investigate how different COOLAIR RNA isoforms are spatially organised and how this arrangement changes under constant and fluctuating winter temperatures, including freezing events. Natural genetic variation and mutants affecting COOLAIR transcription and processing will be used to uncover the mechanisms controlling RNA localisation and determine how these influence FLC regulation and flowering. The FLC/COOLAIR system is highly conserved in Brassica crops, giving the work broader relevance to understanding plant adaptation to increasingly variable climates.
The project is highly interdisciplinary and will provide training in RNA biology, molecular biology, plant genetics, advanced microscopy, quantitative image analysis and bioinformatics. The successful applicant will join the Ding laboratory at the John Innes Centre and will be supervised by Prof Yiliang Ding, with day-to-day co-supervision from Dr Susan Duncan and collaboration with Prof Caroline Dean. The student will benefit from complementary expertise in RNA biology, quantitative RNA imaging, vernalization and natural variation within a world-leading plant science research environment.

The student will have, or expect to obtain, a first-class, 2(i) or equivalent Honours degree in Biology, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Plant Science, Genetics or a related discipline.
Informal enquiries are welcomed; for further information please contact Prof Yiliang Ding (Yiliang.Ding@jic.ac.uk).

This project is awarded with a 4-year Norwich Research Park Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership PhD DTP studentship. The studentship includes payment of tuition fees (directly to the University), a stipend to cover living expenses (2026/27 stipend rate: £21,805, and a Research Training Support Grant of £5,000pa for each year of the studentship.

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