报告题目：C. elegans in an Evolutionary and Ecological Context: Vulva Development and Natural Pathogens

报告人：Marie-Anne Félix, Institut de Biologie de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure, CNRS-ENS-Inserm

主持人：翁杰敏 教授

报告时间：2018年3月19日（周一） 13:30-15:00

报告地点：生命科学学院534小会议室

举办单位：生命科学学院/科技处

 

报告人简介：Marie-Anne FELIX教授来自于巴黎高等师范学校，是该校生物研究所的项目负责人，Marie-Anne FELI教授本科就读于巴黎高等师范学校，之后在高师与巴黎六大继续攻读硕士和博士学位，并相继在美国普林斯顿大学和加州理工学院担任研究员，曾多次在Nature、The Journal of Cell Biology、Developmental Biology、Current Biology等期刊发表文章。FELIX教授目前的研究方向为系统进化生物学，她们团队主要以秀丽隐杆线虫为模式动物，利用进化生物学和生态学的方法，定量地研究其进化趋势。

 

报告人摘要：Biological processes are generally studied in the laboratory under one environmental condition and in one reference genetic background. We try to widen this horizon to answer questions on the relationship between genetic and phenotypic evolution, by placing a paradigmatic model system in developmental biology, C. elegans vulval cell fate patterning, in its evolutionary context. We study properties of robustness, evolutionary variation and evolvability of this system.

In order to develop an evolutionary and ecological framework for C. elegans, we isolate and study natural populations of C. elegans and its relatives. Natural pathogens provide strong and changing selection pressures and are thus relevant to study the defense systems of C. elegans and their potentially rapid evolution. Several natural pathogens of C. elegans were isolated, including the first viruses that infect C. elegans or C. briggsae. A genome-wide association study of Orsay RNA virus load after infection of a worldwide set of C. elegans isolates indicates one major locus segregating in the species. We found that this major locus corresponds to a widespread deletion inactivating the homolog of vertebrate RIG-I viral sensors, thus allowing viral replication.