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Temporal and Dimensional Scaling of Mitotic Spindle Assembly in Embryos: Conserved and Adaptive Mechanisms – MTDiSco
How organisms, cells and intracellular structures adapt their sizes relative to each other is a fundamental and fascinating question in biology. The mitotic spindle, a self-organized and dynamic structure built from microtubules and that aligns and partitions chromosomes during cell division, has th
Identification and characterization of TNTs in vitro and in vivo – LiveTuneL
Novel actin-based membrane protrusions named tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) have been found to connect remote cells allowing communication during development, and disease transmission, suggesting that TNTs are ubiquitous in both physiological and pathological contexts. However, their existence in vivo h
Deciphering collective amoeboid migration, a second mode of collective migration – collamoeboid
Deciphering collective amoeboid migration, a second mode of collective motion The scope of this research program is to decrypt the fundamental mechanisms underlying a new mode of migration that we named “collective amoeboid”. While single cell migration is known to occur through two distinct mech
Disentangling phagocytosis complexity using chemically multiresponsive and deformable particles – PhagoChemiForce
Phagocytosis is a mechanism of internalization and digestion of objects larger than 0.5 microns that relies on receptor triggering leading to actin polymerization and membrane deformation. Partners 1 and 2 have contributed to describe these mechanisms. How multiple receptors simultaneously recognize
Evolution of a novel left-right asymmetry in Drosophila pachea – NovelAsym
How developmental pathways change during animal evolution to give rise to novel asymmetries is unknown. Well established model organisms do not exhibit suitable characters to study this phenomenon, so that we use Drosophila pachea to unravel the recent evolution of asymmetric male genitalia. We want
Mechanisms of Cell Wall Mechanosensation for the Regulation of Cell Growth – CellWallSense
The Cell Wall (CW) is a thin and stiff layer encasing and protecting bacterial, plants and fungal cells. It undergoes dynamic modifications in mechanics and composition that drive growth, reproduction, and infection. Given the high turgor pressure of walled cells, modifications in wall mechanics ent
Control of mitochondrial functions through Rab4b-dependent endocytosis – EndoMitR
How mitochondria adapt their functions to environmental changes remains incompletely understood. Therefore, characterizing the mechanisms involved in such adaptation is a promising challenge for better characterizing founding processes of cellular homeostasis. A concept recently emerges that regulat
Deciphering the gene regulatory network logic underlying whole-body regeneration – RENEW
Our overall objective is to determine the regulatory networks triggered by an injury and that initiate a whole-body regenerative response by dissecting the 1) transcriptional dynamics and 2) genome-wide chromatin accessibility at the tissue and single-cell levels, in order to 3) infer and 4) validat
Investigating the plasticity and the differentiation potential of epithelial transition zone cells during normal and perturbed homeostasis – StemTZones
The main goals of StemTZones are to identify new regulatory mechanisms that govern anorectal and stomach transition zone cells to maintain surrounding epithelia and to define the mechanisms deregulated during injured states which may represent the early phase of diseases. To address these goals,
MICROTUBULE INNER PROTEINS (MIPS): from molecular identification to structural properties and functions – MIP-MAP
The objectives of the program are to i) characterize the molecular properties of the MAP6 family of proteins as MIPs ii) describe their localization in cytoplasmic MTs and/or cilia/flagellar MT doublets iii) analyze their roles in the physiology of sperm and airway cells. Premières images obtenues p
Assessing the Contribution of Tricellular Junctions to Epithelial Mechanics – ACTRICE
In epithelia, at tricellular contacts where three cells meet, bicellular junctions are disjointed and specialized structures called tricellular junctions (TCJs) are assembled. In addition to ensure epithelial barrier functions, TCJs just emerged as hot spots for integrating epithelial tension. In th
Role of Myosin1 and the Actin Cytoskeleton in Multiscale Chirality – Chirality
Understanding how asymmetry emerges from an initial symmetrical condition is a major scientific goal. Our project will focus on the emergence of LR asymmetry or Chirality in biological systems, using a complementary, multiscale approach. Our previous work identified Myosin 1D (Myo1D) as a unique chi
A new role for caveolin in sphingomyelin transport to the plasma membrane – CAV-SM
Lipid and protein sorting is fundamental to the identity, evolution and properties of the different cell organelles. Sphingomyelin (SM) has a key role in organizing signaling nanodomains such as lipid rafts and caveolae at the plasma membrane (PM). Disruption of SM biosynthesis or trafficking underl
Robustness of bacterial cell proliferation – bacPro
Bacterial cell proliferation is very robust in a wide range of niches. Understanding the bases of the molecular bases of this robustness is a major asset to address the worldwide issue of bacterial infections. This proposal aims to decipher the molecular bases of the coordination between cell growth
Lipid homeostasis in cells: functional and structural coupling between an ER-PM tether and a lipid transfer protein – MixAndMove
Phosphatidylserine (PS) is unevenly distributed within the cell, and is particularly enriched in the cytoplasmic leaflet of the plasma membrane (PM). This distribution is essential for proper cellular function. However, PS is synthesized at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and its asymmetric cellular
Role of the lipid sensor PPARg in cardiac progenitor cell deployment: first involvement of energy metabolism and environment in early heart tube morphogenesis. – Pp-HEART
Congenital heart diseases (CHD) are the most common type of birth defects, accounting for one third of all major congenital anomalies. CHD define a large set of structural and functional deficits arising during cardiac embryogenesis, the most common forms affecting the outflow or conotruncal region
When organelles shape the nucleus: remote control of chromatin architecture by plastid signals – PlastoNuc
The importance of nuclear organization dynamics in cell specialization and transcriptional reprogramming is increasingly appreciated in eukaryotic species. In plants and mammals, one such prominent redeployment of chromatin spatial organization observed during cell differentiation is the establishme
Inferring missing links in the origin of angiosperms from their ancestralized developmental regulators – INFER-ANTH
The origin of the angiosperms, or flowering plants, is one of the great unsolved mysteries of evolutionary biology. We propose here a radically new approach, based on the presence of a whole genome duplication event in the angiosperm stem-lineage, to characterize the extinct gymnosperm group from wh
The actin/spectrin scaffold shapes axonal physiology – ASHA
In neurons, the axon propagates action potentials, transmitting signals to target cells. A unique cytoskeletal organization allows its architecture to be both robust and adaptable. A periodic submembrane actin/spectrin scaffold has recently been discovered along axons using optical super-resolution
Crosstalk between clathrin-coated structures and caveolae in cell migration. – CAVEOPIT
Clathrin-coated structures (CCSs) control cell-surface receptor endocytosis but I recently reported that they also pinch collagen fibers from the environment, thus helping cells to adhere and migrate in 3D substrates. CCSs are sensitive to membrane tension variation with a high tension inhibiting CC
Contribution of water fluxes to shoot apical meristem development – HydroField
Plants continuously develop throughout their lifetime through the apical meristems located at the tip of growing axes. The genetic regulation of the shoot apical meristems (SAMs), which produces all plant aerial parts, has been extensively studied in model plants, and various key molecular actors ha
Molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the diversity of connective tissues – LimbCT
The objective of LimbCT is to understand the specification and differentiation programs of connective tissues (CTs) and how the CT diversity is generated, in the context of the musculoskeletal system during limb development. To do so, based on the growing evidence that conserved genes and signalling
Control of naive and primed pluripotency by the Netrin-1 signalling pathway in rodents and primates. – STEMNET
Pluripotency defines the ability of a stem cell to self-renew and differentiate into ectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm derivatives. In mice, pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) can be captured in two distinct configurations entitled ‘naïve’ and ‘primed’, corresponding to pre- and post-implantation embryos,
Defining the regulatory signals influencing the pacemaker cell fate – REPACE
The sinoatrial node (SAN) is composed of specialized cells able to generate a spontaneous electric activity allowing cardiac contraction. Congenital or acquired SAN dysfunction results in bradycardia and sudden death. The generation of pacemaker cells by reprogramming gains interest, since biologica
Mechanotransduction of cell collective behaviors through the actin cytoskeleton – MECOLLACT
Cells stop migrating and proliferating when they are densely packed (jamming). Upon wound healing or other mechanical treatments, cells resume migration and cell cycle progression (unjamming). Groups of cells are coordinated through actin-dependent mechanotransduction at cell-cell junctions. Our goa
Understanding DNA damage over tissue development and aging time-scales – ChronoDamage
Our proposed work aims to better understand how exogenous and physiological mechanical forces may be buffered, or promote DNA damage and how this impacts developing and adult tissues over short and long time-scales. We will combine interdisciplinary approaches from the teams of Partner 1 (Allison B
Adaptability of the Golgi-dependent secretory routes – GolgiPS
Secretory protein transport is necessary to fulfil essential cellular functions. At the centre of the secretory pathway, the Golgi apparatus has to handle the diversity of the cargos to be transported. It is now clear that diversity in the Golgi-dependent secretory routes does exist and that multipl
Dissecting axonal transport homeostasis mediated by the tubulin code – CodeAx
Life-long homeostasis is essential for multicellular organisms, especially within long-living cells such as neurons. In particular, maintaining the structural and functional complexity of neurons over the lifespan of an organism requires finely tuned regulatory mechanisms that are purely understood.
Unraveling evolutionary causes and consequences of quantitative variation of meiotic recombination – EVOLREC
Meiotic recombination is a key process that has major implications in genome evolution, dynamics of trait adaptation, and organismal fitness. Recombination events are unevenly distributed along the genome and crossover number and positioning are strongly regulated, but most of the underlying genetic
Subcellular forces controlling cell division in epithelial tissue dynamics – TiMecaDiv
Subcellular cytoskeleton forces are critical to cell division. However, in epithelial tissues our understanding of force generation and sensing during spindle orientation and cytokinesis is fragmented. This stems in part from the lack of tools to measure or impose subcellular forces within cells emb
Origins of the Eukaryotic Endomembrane System: did Arf Family GTPase Function Arise in Archaea? – ArchaeArf
This proposal addresses the origins and deep cellular evolution of the Arf family (Arf_F) of small G proteins (GTPases), providing new insights into eukaryogenesis, with important implications for understanding eukaryotic cellular organization. The eukaryotic Arf proteins (Arf_E, comprised of the Ar
The subcellular landscape of cycling plant cells – PlantScape
In cycling plant cells, preparing and implementing division involve a series of concerted cytological events, dynamically coordinated and under cell cycle control. Here, our three-partner consortium will establish a precise spatiotemporal framework allowing to integrate information, identify key sta
Mechanotransduction at the nucleus in plants: from chromatin organization to cell fate decision – Mecha-NUC
All living organisms are able to sense mechanical forces such as compression, tension or shear. The transduction of such mechanical signals contributes to changes in cell shape and fate. Relevant cortical mechanosensing pathways start to be deciphered, but the nuclear mechanotransduction linking nuc