Research

The multidisciplinary research conducted within the Research Unit focuses on the understanding of the living from a functional and evolutionary point of view, from the scale of the molecule, cells and organisms to that of complex biological systems.

At the molecular level, research concerns biological macromolecules, mainly proteins studied at structural and functional levels by biochemistry, biophysics, enzymology, and X-ray crystallography methods. These studies aim to determine the conformation of these macromolecules, their folding pathways, their stability, their functional properties, their interactions with other molecules. The regulation of these interactions is also studied in macromolecular assemblies.

Cells and organisms are studied for their physiology, development, genetics and evolution. The selected species represent all the kingdoms living with the archaea, bacteria, microalgae, mushrooms, plants and animals. The primary metabolisms (respiration, photosynthesis, nutrition, growth, cell division, ...) and secondary metabolisms (production of toxins, pigments, antibiotics, ...) are analyzed. Another aspect of the research concerns mechanisms of resistance to toxic agents (antibiotics, metals) or to extreme environmental conditions (polar regions, polluted sites, karstic environments).

The scale of systems is covered by both functional and phylogenetic studies, including tools from the field of computational biology. Systems biology aims at the in silico inference of genetic or metabolic regulatory networks associated with physiological or developmental processes. Genomic and phylogenetic approaches are used to analyze the phylogeny and evolution of species or natural communities, their dispersion and adaptation to the ever-changing conditions of their environment. They are also used within the RU to address more general issues of the evolution of early eukaryotic and photosynthetic organisms. In vivo research goes from interactions between organisms (symbiosis, competition, mutualism, plant-pathogen interactions, biofilms) to the study of the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems (grasslands, forests, caves) and the exploration of biodiversity (bacterial, plant and animal).