6-month Master 2 internship: How does the microbiote contribute to Lamellodiscus (monogeneans) parasites specificity for their Sparidae (teleost) hosts?

Lab :
Internship supervisors:
Elodie Magnanou & Judith Revault
Team: INTERMED Marine INTeractions, Evolu-tion and ADaptation
https://biom.obs-banyuls.fr/fr/equipe-e8-interactions-marines-evolution-et-adaptation.html

Context :
All multicellular organisms harbour a microbiota which plays a role that is still sometimes poorly understood, but crucial for many host functions, particularly in relation to their pathogens. Our group has shown that the bacterial communities of the external mucus of Sparidae teleost fish are involved in the relationship with their monogenean ectoparasites

Project description:
In this context, this internship will consist in the implementation of one of the components of the French funding agency (ANR) “MONAMI” project “Monogeneans and Microbes: the link between microbial communities and the specificity of fish monogenean ectoparasites”.
Specifically, the student will contribute to the implementation of an in vivo experimental design on a farmed Sparidae species, the gilthead seabream Sparus aurata and its specific gill ectoparasite (Lamellodiscus) Furnestinia echeneis.
The protocol aims to identify whether an altered microbiota is a cause or consequence of the presence of Lamellodiscus monogeneans. The experiment includes monitoring gill parasite load, characterizing bacterial communities by 16S rDNA metabarcoding, and taking samples for tran-scriptomic analysis of the fish’s ecophysiological response.
Main tasks:
– tank experiments
– extraction of bacterial DNA
– metabarcoding data processing
– observation and handling of fish parasites
– Sparidae parasite load assessment
Skills:
– animal physiology
– molecular biology
– high throughput sequencing analysis
– parasitology

We would be happy to apply for a PhD program on this project

Selected publications :
Revault, J., Desdevises, Y. & Magnanou, É. 2024. Link between bacterial communities and contrasted loads in ecto-parasitic monogeneans from the external mucus of two wild sparid species (Teleostei). Animal Microbiome 6, 42 https://doi.org/10.1186/s42523-024-00329-0
Scheifler, M., Magnanou, E., Sanchez-Brosseau, S. et al. 2023. Host-microbiota-parasite interactions in two wild sparid fish species, Diplodus annularis and Oblada melanura (Teleostei, Sparidae) over a year: a pilot study. BMC Microbiology 23, 340 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12866-023-03086-3
Scheifler M, Sanchez-Brosseau S, Magnanou E, Desdevises Y. 2022. Diversity and structure of Sparids external microbiota (Teleostei) and its link with monogenean ectoparasites. Animal Microbiome 4:27 https://doi.org/10.1186/s42523-022-00180-1
Scheifler M, Magnanou E, Sanchez-Brosseau S, Desdevises Y. 2022. Host specificity of monogenean ectoparasites on fish skin and gills assessed by a metabarcoding approach. International Journal for Parasitology 52(8): 559-567 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpara.2022.02.001.