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Legumes and soil bacteria called rhizobia have co-evolved a facultative nitrogen-fixing symbiosis. Establishment of the symbiosis requires bacterial entry via root hair infection threads (ITs) and, in parallel, organogenesis of nodules that are subsequently invaded by bacteria. Tight control of nodulation and infection is required to maintain the mutualistic character of the interaction. Available evidence supports a passive bacterial role in nodulation and infection, after the microsymbiont has triggered the symbiotic plant developmental program.

While reinforcement may play a role in all major modes of speciation, relatively little is known about the timescale over which species hybridize without evolving complete reproductive isolation. Birds have high potential for hybridization, and islands provide simple settings for uncovering speciation and hybridization patterns. Here we develop a phylogenetic hypothesis for a phenotypically diverse radiation of finch-like weaver-birds (Foudia) endemic to the western Indian Ocean islands.

Bacterial typeIII effectors are recognized by plant intracellular nucleotide binding–leucine-rich repeat (NB-LRR) receptors. So far, processes linking activation of these receptors to downstream defense responses remain elusive.

During the initial stages of root colonization by either nitrogen-fixing rhizobia or arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, the microsymbionts traverse outer root tissues within specialized intracellular compartments of plant origin, thus avoiding direct contact with the host cytoplasm and the activation of defence responses. In order to study the mechanisms underlying this unique form of transcellular infection we have developed in vivo experimental approaches based on confocal microscopy for the model legume Medicago truncatula with the objective of monitoring host cellular dynamics and associated intracellular signaling.

The bioinformatics team of LIPM led by J. Gouzy has contributed the annotation of the genome of Theobroma cacao, an economically important tropical-fruit tree crop that is the source of chocolate.

Current evolutionary approaches reduce heredity to the sole genes. However, evidence is accruing that various forms of non-genetic information are transmitted across generations and thus participate to evolution. In a paper published in Nature Reviews Genetics, an international team encompassing three members of the federation de Recherche 3450 (EDB, UMR 5174 CNRS-Université Paul Sabatier-ENFA and “SEEM, USR 2936 CNRS) call for a more inclusive paradigm integrating all forms of non-genetic heredity into a single theory of evolution. It is the party taken by the TULIP Labex project to which three of the authors take part.

As dispersal plays a key role in gene flow among populations, its evolutionary dynamics under environmental changes is particularly important. The inter-dependency of dispersal with other life history traits may constrain dispersal evolution, and lead to the indirect selection of other traits as a by-product of this inter-dependency.

Dans le cadre d'un consortium international, des chercheurs du LIPM (INRA-CNRS), en collaboration avec le Génoscope (CEA- Institut de Génomique) sont parvenus à séquencer le génome d’une légumineuse modèle proche du pois ou de la luzerne cultivée : Medicago truncatula. Le séquençage de son génome donne accès aux gènes d'intérêt potentiellement utilisables pour d'autres cultures. Cette légumineuse a en effet une capacité intéressante, elle fixe, grâce à une symbiose avec des bactéries, l’azote présent dans l’atmosphère. Elle ne requiert donc pas, contrairement à beaucoup de ses semblables, d’intrants... Une recherche qui, transférée à d’autres espèces, ouvre la voie à une agriculture plus respectueuse de l’environnement.

Liste des publications 2022 de l'ensemble des laboratoires composant la FR AIB (IF 2021). Éléments collectés et consolidés par Solange Cassette, documentaliste à la fédération. Publications list in 2022 of all members of FR AIB laboratories (IF 2021). Items collected and consolidated by Solange Cassette, library ressources manager.