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Info DEE # 17 - June 2020
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WELCOME TO OUR NEW COLLEAGUES
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Ms Lorena George joined the group of Prof. Cleo Bertelsmeier for an internship of a few weeks. Lorena is located in office 2108.1, phone 41.93. Lorena.George@unil.ch
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We are also glad to count on the help of a new student-assistants in the Bertelsmeier group: Ms Leonore Menthonnex, Ms Angie Orejuela Yustes, Ms Lisa Hulaas, Ms Zoé Siegel, Mr Arthur Royston, Mr Ludovic Ruedi, Mr Dany Buffat. Welcome to them too.
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External Seminars are still suspended at the moment. Some internal seminars are maintained through videoconference. In case of question about External seminars, please contact Prof. Charles Mullon. In case of questions about Internal seminars, please contact Tane Kafle and Olivia Bates.
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HIGHLIGHTS
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Congratulation to Maud Liegeois (Schwander group) who defended her thesis entitled: Parthenogenesis in Mayflies (Ephemeroptera). Ephemeroptera (mayflies) are one of the few animal groups where sexual reproduction co-occurs with different types of parthenogenesis at the inter- and intra-species levels, including facultative parthenogenesis.
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This thesis aims to investigate the frequency of parthenogenesis in mayfly species overall, as a first step towards developing this group as a model system for investigating the balance between the benefits of sexual reproduction compared to parthenogenesis in natural populations. Then, this work focuses on the mayfly species Alainites muticus to better understand the evolution of reproductive polymorphism in the wild, and to identify ecological correlates of different reproductive strategies in natural populations. Overall, this thesis improves the knowledge on life-histories and ecologies of mayflies, and gives novel insights into the costs of sex in the wild. Mayflies are currently clearly underappreciated for their value as an outstanding model system to help resolving the « paradox of sex ».
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Congratulations to David Nusbaumer (Wedekind group) who defended his thesis entitled: Salmonid spem characteristics in the light of males reproductive strategies and population management. In this thesis, the author studied sperm characteristics of males of three species (European grayling Thymallus thymallus, brown trout Salmo trutta and lake char Salvelinus umbla) in order to i) understand better the link between sperm quality and male reproductive strategies, female choice and offspring performance ii) study variation in sperm traits and signalling among populations iii) compare the sperm characteristics of wild and captive males and iv) optimize a sperm cryopreservation protocol. He also tested whether the use of captive fish for restocking and the cryopreservation of sperm produce genetic effects in the offspring, and whether natural populations have the potential to evolve tolerance to micropollutants.
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The UNIL celebrates the ERC project started by Prof. Tanja Schwander at the DEE. The project is entitled «Evolutionary Consequences of Arrested Genomic Conflict in Asexual Species (No Sex No Conflict)» and the UNIL press release details Tanja's background and career.
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Picture: © Felix Imhof, UNIL
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The UNIL celebrates the publication of Prof. Alexandre Roulin and current and former members of his team in The American Naturalist. See the UNIL press release.
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With his colleagues Raphaël Arlettaz (UniBE), Prof. Philippe Christe replies to the RTS questions in CQFD, about the loss of biodiversity and prevalence of epidemics: how the loss of biodiversity can be related to the current health crisis?
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Are monkeys our cousins ? Prof. Erica van de Waal answered the children's questions about the resemblance between apes and humans in the Brouhaha show of the RTS.
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With a colleagues from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Dr Giulia Zancolli (Marie-Curie fellow in the group Robinson-RechaviI) published in Molecular Biology and Evolution a review paper proposing venomous organisms as novel model systems for studying evolutionary convergence of key adaptive traits and the molecular mechanisms underlying the emergence of novel genes, cells and tissues.
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She provides a throughout synthesis of current knowledge and available data on the origin and regulation of venom-producing cells and organs to facilitate and encourage the establishment of venom systems in evolutionary and molecular biology.
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Prof. Cleo Bertelsmeier published an article in Biological invasions. The paper is about the international tracking of COVID-19 and how it could inspire collaborative efforts to monitor the spread of other invasive species.
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Food donation among birds of prey siblings is rare, while fratricides are common. Barn owl known as "Dame Blanche" is the exception: the older chick may be generous in feeding its younger brother or sister. An altruism that the team of Prof. Alexandre Roulin (Dr Pauline Ducouret, Dr Andrea Romano, Dr Amélie N. Dreiss), analyzes in an article of the magazine The American Naturalist.
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Picture: Sibling barn owls (Tyto alba). © Amélie N. Dreiss.
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What did the Hymenoptera ancestor look like? Insights into the putative ancestral hymenopteran genome using the genomes and comparative analyses of the primarily phytophagous sawfly Athalia rosae and the parasitoid sawfly Orussus abietinus, published in the journal Genome Biology and Evolution, by the Waterhouse Group and colleagues from the i5k 5’000 arthropod genomes initiative
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We thank you and count on you all to continue the efforts with booking the google docs for the labs and office occupancy, mask wearing, desinfection of material and hands, observance of social distancing, due to the (still) pandemic situation. As you have probably all heard, precautions are more important than ever to avoid a second wave. See the guidelines of the FBM and take care.
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