Lieu: Brunoy.
Abstract: Adaptation to environmental variations is vital for organism survival.
While short-lived organisms face unpredictable environment fluctuations,
long-lived animals experience regular and generally drastic environment changes
across different seasons of the year. To adapt to this seasonally-oscillating
environment, a wide range of animals display rhythmic changes in physiology and
behaviors (e.g., hibernation, reproduction, migration) across seasons.
Classical behavior studies suggest that, like the circadian clock, the seasonal
rhythms are likely controlled by an endogenous clock that entrains with
photoperiods but can cycle without external cues. What are the molecules,
cells, and regulatory circuits that support this long-period oscillation? Our
research aims to tackle this question by applying an interdisciplinary approach
to the grey mouse lemur, a mouse-sized primate that maintains stable seasonal
reproduction, hibernation/torpor, and body growth/regression cycles throughout
their 5–10-year lifespan in captivity. As a highly collaborative team with
members from both MNHN and Stanford, we are analyzing the mouse lemur seasonal
transcriptome by single-cell RNA-sequencing, circulating proteome/metabolome by
mass-spectrometry, and gut microbiome by whole genome shotgun sequencing.