Press room

Press room
Home

Press room

Disrupting cell-cell communication to suppress virulence in the bacterium Bacillus cereus

A major public health goal is to identify new strategies for fighting microbes. In Bacillus cereus, a human pathogen, the expression of virulence genes is synchronised and results from communication among bacteria. In a recent study, INRA researchers and Israeli scientists collaborated to develop synthetic peptides capable of interfering with this process. Published on August 14, 2018, in Chemical Communications, the results of this work should lead to novel methods for countering the virulence of bacterial pathogens.

Find out more
The influence of genetics on nutritional requirements

Approximately 0.1%: that is the average genetic difference between two individuals. This small percentage is responsible for the variations of certain physical traits, such as eyes, hair, and height, but also for differences in our susceptibility to certain diseases and our capacity to absorb vitamins and phytomicronutrients (carotenoids, polyphenols, etc.), involved in the prevention of chronic disease. Based on the study of genetic interindividual variability, researchers from INRA and Aix-Marseille University have published a review on current knowledge of nutrigenetics in the Annual Review of Nutrition on 21 August 2018. The objective of this emerging science is to personalize nutritional recommendations in order to optimize nutrient, micronutrient, and phytomicronutrient allowances by taking into account genetic differences between individuals and groups of individuals.

Find out more
Satellite observations reveal secrets of dry tropical forest greening

In dry tropical forests, vegetation takes up water at the end of the wet season and stores it during the driest season of the year. This large amount of stored water enables trees to flush new leaves about one month before the next rainy season. This surprising phenomenon has been revealed for the first time using satellite observations, mainly in the African region of Miombo (around four times the surface area of France), in a study coordinated by the University of Copenhagen¹ and INRA² in collaboration with the CEA, CNRS, CNES and Bordeaux Science Agro³. These findings, published on 13 August 2018 in Nature Ecology and Evolution, will help researchers improve current Earth system models (which do not fully account for plant hydraulic mechanisms) and future climate change and water cycle projections in these regions of the world.

Find out more
New perspectives to improve wheat: the reference sequence of wheat genome is finally a reality

The International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC), of which INRA is a leading member, published the first wheat genome reference sequence in Science, on 17 August 2018. French research teams from INRA, CEA, and the universities of Clermont-Auvergne, Evry, Paris-Sud and Paris-Saclay contributed to the project, a scientific milestone due to the enormous complexity and size of the genome — five times larger than the human genome and forty times larger than the rice genome. This achievement will make it possible to identify genes of agronomic interest, opening new perspectives to improve bread wheat varieties and crops in order to face the challenges of the future. This reference sequence also represents a significant step towards understanding how this complex genome functions and evolves.

Find out more