Bonjour à toutes et à tous,
Nous avons le plaisir de vous annoncer qu’un séminaire exceptionnel sera donné par Julien Martinez (Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK) le lundi 28 septembre 2026 à 11h00 en présentiel.
Le séminaire aura lieu dans la salle Louis Thaler à l’ISEM, sur le campus Triolet de l’Université de Montpellier (bâtiment 22, Faculté des Sciences, Pl. Eugène Bataillon, 34090 Montpellier).
Nous espérons vous y voir nombreux!
Belle journée,
Mountassira MATIN, Nicolas RODE, Mathieu SICARD
Mots clés: lutte antivectorielle, Wolbachia, Aedes albopictus, génomiques de l’évolution
Dear all,
We are delighted to announce that a special seminar will be given by Julien Martinez (Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK) on September 28th at 11:00am in person. This seminar will take place in the room Louis Thaler in ISEM, on the Triolet campus of the University of Montpellier (Building 22, Faculty of Sciences, Pl. Eugène Bataillon, 34090 Montpellier).
We hope to see you there!
Have a nice day,
Mountassira MATIN, Nicolas RODE, Mathieu SICARD
Key words vector-borne disease control, Wolbachia, Aedes albopictus, evolutionary genomics
Abstract:
Wolbachia are widespread intracellular symbionts of arthropods that can protect insects against viral pathogens and are increasingly used to reduce the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue. However, antiviral protection varies substantially among Wolbachia strains, and its underlying genetic basis remains poorly understood. Importantly, little is known about the evolutionary stability of Wolbachia traits that are relevant to disease control.
In this seminar, I will explore these questions using complementary approaches and across different evolutionary timescales. Using comparative analyses of divergent Wolbachia strains, I will first show how genetic variation in antiviral protection is strongly associated with bacterial density within the host. I will then use population genomics to investigate the evolution of a dual Wolbachia infection in its native mosquito host, Aedes albopictus, over the past ~9,000 years, revealing substantial variation in symbiont density, evolutionary rate and gene content across geographical scales. Finally, I will examine short-term evolution experimentally in mosquito cell culture, showing that Wolbachia genomes evolve rapidly in this environment, with strong evidence for convergent evolution.
Altogether, I will demonstrate how combining studies of natural variation with experimental evolution can provide a more complete understanding of Wolbachia evolutionary dynamics and inform the use of symbiont-based disease control.
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