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.