HDR: Mélanie Morel-Rouhier

Congratulations Mélanie for your Habilitation!

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The defense will be held the 10th July at 9h30 in Amphitheater 7, Faculté des Sciences, Boulevard des Aiguillettes, Vandoeuvre.

The HDR title: “Les systèmes de détoxication et de réponse au stress chez les champignons lignolytiques”

PhD Defense : M. Pernaci

Congratulations Michaël for your brilliant PhD defense last Thursday!

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The PhD defense of M. Pernaci will be held the 25th June at 2 pm in the conference room (INRA champenoux).

Title : Study of life history traits of the poplar rust fungus Melampsora larici-populina: from their genetic determinism to their evolutionary consequences.

Abstract:

Adaptation of a phytopathogenic fungus to its environment, as well as the resulting evolution and structuration of its populations, are strongly influenced by its life history traits which condition its fitness. This is illustrated here with the poplar rust fungus Melampsora larici-populina. Hence, we showed that spore volume repeatedly evolved through natural selection, during annual epidemics in the Durance River valley, showing the implication of this trait in the fungus adaptive processes. Consequently, genetic constraints conditioning the adaptive potential of the fungus, in connection with life history traits, were studied in laboratory, over a progeny resulting from a selfing of a reference strain. Results suggest that M. larici-populina has a high adaptive potential. Finally, a high resolution genetic map of the fungus, comprising 18 chromosomes, has been built in order to study genetic determinism of these traits. One locus of virulence and three QTL involved in the expression of the lesion size were detected and accurately mapped on this map. This work emphasizes the role of quantitative traits in adaptation and structuration of M. larici-populina populations in response to the environmental selective pressures, by conferring an adaptive potential, the basis of organisms’ adaptation. It also opens many opportunities to identify the genetic bases of adaptation of this fungus, these elements being essential for the development of sustainable strategies of disease control.

Keywords: Fungal plant pathogen, evolutionary biology, adaptive potential, quantitative genetics, genetic mapping, QTL mapping.

Seminar: A. Deveau

Aurélie Deveau présentera en salle de conférences (site Inra de Champenoux) un séminaire sur ses travaux  réalisés ces trois derniers mois dans le laboratoire de Pieter Dorrestein à San Diego. La présentation décrira la technique d’imagerie par spectrométrie de masse et ses applications aux analyses des mécanismes d’interactions entre micro-organismes des sols forestiers et racines de plantes.

Aurélie Devenu will present her recent work performed in the lab of Pieter Dorrestein dealing with imaging methods coupled to mass spectrometry in the goal to understand the   interactions between organisms in forest soils. The seminar will be held in the conference room friday 12h june at 1.30 pm.

Seminar: P. Silar

Pr Philippe Silar from “Université Paris Diderot will give a talk entitled:

“Podospora anserina, a model to study the degradation of plant biomass”

The seminar will be held Friday 5th June at 2pm (salle ESA Fac de sciences).

It will be possible to follow it (visioconference) in LEGF room at INRA.