The “Conseil Régional de Lorraine” had launched a call for proposals to support collaborative research (R&D) involving private companies and public research laboratories. In this context, the Screenzym project led by the Biolie company and IAM (E. Gelhaye) has been selected and funded. The aim of this project  is to create a platform allowing the fast quantification of various compounds of interest and the development of different enzyme cocktails acting on the biomass.

Le Conseil Régional de Lorraine a mis en place un fonds pour les projets collaboratifs de recherche et développement (R&D) destiné à rapprocher les entreprises des laboratoires de recherche publics. Dans ce cadre, le projet Screenzym porté par la société Biolie et IAM (E. Gelhaye) a été soutenu. Il consiste à créer une plateforme permettant de quantifier différents composés d’intérêt. Cette quantification permettra notamment à la société BIOLIE de tester et développer rapidement différents cocktails enzymatiques adaptés aux végétaux sur lesquels elle travaille, dans le cadre de ses contrats clients ou de son développement de catalogue d’actifs à destination des marchés cosmétique et nutraceutique.

RESIPATH: Responses of European Forests and Society to Invasive Pathogens

This project has been selected in the Biodiversa call: “Invasive species and biological invasions” and involves in particular B. Marçais of our department.

Participating countries : SE (coordinator) AU, BE, BG, DE, FR, NO, PT, SE, TK (48 Months)

Invasive alien species pose a serious global threat to biodiversity by driving native species to extinction via competitive exclusion and by their ability to modify entire landscapes. The selected tree species are not only an integral part of their ecosystems but are also economically important and supply crucial environmental services to European society, such as biodiversity, watershed protection, stabilisation of river banks, as well as recreational and cultural values. Due to different mortality patterns, the array of host-pathogen combinations enables the study of differential effects on the host population in terms of demographics and evolution. The high ecological and economic impact caused by invasive pathogens nowadays necessitates the development of an early detection system and to increase knowledge on the importance of different pathways for their introduction and spread. Ultimately, an efficient response from society to mitigate the impact of invasive pathogens also depends on the public perception and the communication between researchers and stakeholders in society.

The book entitled Ecological genomics of fungi edited by F. Martin is available.

This unique book covers a broad diversity of fungal systems and provides unique insight into the functions of those fungi in various ecosystems – from soil, to plant, to human. Bringing together fungal genomic information on a variety of lifestyles and traits, the book covers saprotrophism, pathogenesis (including biotrophs, hemibiotrophs, necrotrophs) and symbiosis. Advances in high–throughput sequencing now offer unprecedented opportunities for identification of novel key molecular mechanisms controlling plant–microbe interactions, evolution of fungi and developmentally– and ecologically–relevant traits,  this book explores how these massive streams of fungal sequences can be exploited to gain a deeper understanding of the evolution of fungi and their ecological role.   Although tremendous progress has been made in recent years in fungal genomics, thanks to the sequencing of over one hundred fungal genomes, until now no book has used this information to bridge fungal genomics, molecular ecology and ecology. Edited by a recognized leader in fungal genomics and soil metagenomics with over a decade of experience, Genomics & Metagenomics for Harnessing the Ecology of Fungi will be a useful resource for the experienced as well as the new researchers entering the field.

Two Projects proposed by IAM members have been selected by the DOE Joint Genome Institute (Community Science Program Sequencing Plans for 2014)

The first project is coordinated by S. Duplessis and entitled: “Combined population genomics and transcriptomics to decipher the molecular bases of virulence and host adaptation in the poplar leaf rust fungus Melampsora larici-populina”

The second project involving F. Martin as co-PI is entitled: “Comparative genomics of early diverging terrestrial fungi and their bacterial endosymbionts”