Main research interests

Plant-pathogen-environment interactions, global warming, natural variability, tissue-specific genome expression regulations, epigenetic regulations.

Selection of 3 major recent publications

Le Roux C, Huet G, Jauneau A, Camborde L, Tremousaygue D, Kraut A, Zhou BB, Levaillant M, Adachi H, Yoshioka H, Raffaele S, Berthomé R, Coute Y, Parker JE and  Deslandes L (2015). A Receptor Pair with an Integrated Decoy Converts Pathogen Disabling of Transcription Factors to Immunity. Cell, 161:1074-1088.

Boussardon C.,  Salone V., Avon A., Berthomé R., Hammani K.,  Okuda K., Shikanai T., Small I. and Lurin C. (2012). Two Interacting Proteins Are Necessary for the Editing of the NdhD-1 Site in Arabidopsis Plastids. The Plant Cell 24:3684-94.

Krapp A., Berthomé R*, Orsel M, Mercey-Boutet S, Yu A., Castaings L., Elfthieh S., Major H.,  Renou J.P and Daniel-Vedele F (2011). Arabidopsis roots and shoots show distinct temporal adaptation pattern towards N starvation. Plant Physiology 157:1255-82.

Biography

Richard Berthomé is a research scientist at the French National Institute for Agronomical Research (INRA) in the Plants Microorganisms Interaction laboratory (LIPM) (team ”Plant resistance pathways dynamics and adaptation to global warming”).

He realized his Ph.D. (1995-1999) and his first post-doc (1999-2000) at the Cellular biology laboratory (INRA, Versailles center) under the supervision of Dr. M. Tepfer and Dr. H. Vaucheret, respectively. During this period, he developed strategies devoted to confer resistance to viruses on an ornamental crop (Pelargonium) and studied PTGS (post-transcritpional gene suppression of transgenes) mechanism involved in natural resistance to viruses. Following this, he did a one-year post-doctoral fellowship in the Dr J.Traas’s group (Cellular Biology laboratory at INRA, Versailles) and in the Dr D. Inzé's laboratory (VIB, Gend, Belgium) aimed at studying the role of the cell cycle in the shoot apical meristem organization control.

He was recruited as researcher in 2001 at the Genetic and Plant Breeding unit (IJPB-INRA, Versailles) in the " Organites and Reproduction” team. The project developed was dedicated to study the involvement of mitochondria in plant development and more particularly in sexual reproduction. In 2007, he joined the functional Genomic of Arabidopsis group of the Plant Genomics Research Unit (INRA-EVRY) to engineer a new system allowing tissue specific RNA labeling/transcriptome analysis and to study to the plant genome expression regulation in fluctuating environments, more particularly in response to abiotic stresses (cell differentiation process, nitrogen starvation, salt stress, organic pollutant). He integrated the LIPM in 2012. His main focus of interest is now on biotic-abiotic stress response interplay using the Arabidopsis thaliana/Ralstonia solanacearum (Rs) pathosystem, well characterized in the team. His priorities are the analysis of (i) molecular mechanisms involved in the RPS4/RRS1-R immunity inhibition following a faint and permanent increase of temperature and (ii) to identify the genetic basis involved in resistance mechanisms remaining efficient at 30°C.

From 2005 to 2012, he has contribute as a biologist  to several modules in Master level teaching on plant sexual reproduction, animal and plant genomics, genomics and plant productivity, functional genomics and biotechnology. Currently, he participates in two master level modules (signaling and gene regulation in microorganisms and plants; Symbiotic and pathogenic interactions) as lecturer and in workshops.

Address

Équipe « Plant resistance pathways dynamics and adaptation to global warming »
Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes Micro-organismes (LIPM)
24 chemin de Borde Rouge - Auzeville
CS 52627
31326 Castanet Tolosan Cedex
Téléphone : +33 (0)5 61 28 55 09
Fax : +33 (0)5 61 28 50 61

http://www6.toulouse.inra.fr/lipm

richard.berthome[at]toulouse.inra.fr