Montpellier Scientific Community



Centre for Biology and Management of Populations (CBGP)

Director: Denis Bourguet
Research area
The JRU Centre for Biology and Management of Populations (CBGP) performs research in systematics, genetics and ecology aimed at the management of populations and communities of organisms that are beneficial in agronomy, health and biodiversity. This research is aimed at developing the conceptual and theoretical elements and the tools (molecular, modelling and simulation tools) required for setting up control or conservation strategies.
Research highlights
  • Characterization of the YSL1 transporter involved in Fe-chelate delivery to Arabidopsis thaliana seeds
  • Implication of the defensins in Zn tolerance in the plant metal hyperaccumulator Arabidopsis halleri
  • Characterization of the nitrate transporter NRT1-1 as a nitrate sensor involved in the regulation of the major nitrate uptake system and in nitrate dependent root morphogenesis.
  • Characterization of the main transporter for Fe uptake (IRT1) by roots of non-grasses plants
  • Characterization of a transporter (HKT1) which is responsible for Na+ recirculation from shoots to roots
  • Demonstration that the K+ channel GORK is a major effector of stomatal closure in response to environmental or hormonal signals
  • Demonstration that the pH sensitivity of aquaporines is the basis of the response of water conductivity to stresses
  • Characterization of a K+ channel necessary for competitive pollen tube growth
Staff profile
Total permanent staff Total Scientists Scientists with "HDR" [1] Post-doc fellows PhD
60
 43 15 10 16
[1]French university degree for confirmed thesis supervisor
Research teams
No research teams as such, but six "thinktanks" have been set up in the unit, i.e.
  • Systemic analysis and modelling of complex systems
  • Ecology of communities
  • Population genetics Interaction, adaptation, speciation
  • Phylogeny/phylogeography
  • Systematics/taxonomy
Three transversal model workgroups are also active around: The Bemisia complex / Rodents of the Mastomys genus / Communities of phytoparasitic nematodes

Platforms and other tools
  • Animal housing
  • Lepidopterae platform
  • Bemisia confinement area / Quarantine in nematology
  • Molecular biology platform
  • Scanning electron microscope
  • Greenhouse
Most important international partnerships
Algeria: University of Blidah - Australia : University of Queensland, Department of Microbiology and Parasitology / CSIRO, Canberra - Austria: Institute of Biochemistry, Wien - Belgium: University of Antwerp, Evolutionary Biology Group /Agricultural Research Center, Merelbeke / University of Brussels - Brazil: University of Sao Paolo - Cambodia : Pasteur Institute - China : Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences - Czech Republic: Academy of Science, Brno, Department of Population Biology - Finland: University of Helsinki, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Vantaa Research Centre, Vantaa Germany: Museum, Bonn /University of Ulm / University of Halle / University of Rostock / University of Potsdam, University of Münster, Population genetics lab - Great-Britain : Imperial College, London / Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, Aberystwyth / University of Aberdeen / University of Cambridge / University of Liverpool, Department of Veterinary Pathology and Wildlife Disease Research Group / University of Nottingham / University of Reading, School of Animal and Microbial Sciences / University of York / Rothamsted Experimental Station / Sanger Institute - Greece : Agricultural University of Athens, Heraklion Museum of natural history, Crete - Italy: University Tor Vergata, and University La Sapienza, Animal and Human biology Dept, Rome, University of Padova, University of Palermo - Japan: University of Sapporo Madagascar: Pasteur Institute of Madagascar, Antananarivo, Division de la Lutte contre les maladies transmissibles (DLMT), Ministère de la Santé /University of Antananarivo, Animal Biology Dept., - Netherlands: Netherlands Institute of Ecology NIOO-CTO, Heteren, Université de Wageningen, J. Bakker - Spain: IRTA Centre of Cabrils, Crop Protection department / Universitat de Lleida, Universitat de Valencia, F. Ferragut Université de Barcelone, Faculté de pharmacie, - South Africa: South African Sugarcane Research Institute (SASRI), Plant Pathology, Nematology and Soil Science Dep. / University of Stellenbosch, United States: Cornell University / Field Museum Chicago, Berkeley University / USDA-ARS, Western Regional Research Center, California/University of California, Riverside / University of Arizona, Tucson, / Univ. of New York - Mali: Institut d'Economie rurale IPR / Katibougou University Bamako / Direction Nationale de la Conservation de la Nature - Morocco: Agronomical and Veterinarian Institute, Rabat - Niger: CERMES and Agrhymet Centre Niamey / Abdou Moumouni University - Panama: Smithsonian Institution - Netherlands: Netherlands Institute of Ecology NIOO-CTO, Heteren, Université de Wageningen - Portugal: University of Coimbra IMAR / Museum of Natural History, Lisbon - Russia: National Institute of Zoology, Moscow / Institute of Genetics, Novossibirsk - Senegal Univ Cheick Anta Diop, Dakar, Animal biology dept, CT Ba / Pasteur Institute of Dakar, virology lab / Université Polytechnique de Thiès - Sweden: European Center for Disease Control - Switzerland: University of Bern - Thailand: University of Kasetsart - Tunisia Institut des Régions Arides, Ecole Supérieure d'Horticulture Chott Mariem / Institut de Biotechnologie, Université de Monastir.
Facts and figures
Publications in international ranking journals
2007: 80
2006: 94
2005: 72
Representative publications
Coeur d'Acier A, Jousselin E, Martin JF, Rasplus JY (2007) Phylogeny of the genus Aphis Linnaeus, 1758 (Homoptera : Aphididae) inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 42(3): 598-611.

Dalecky A, Ponsard S, Bailey RI, Pelissier C, Bourguet D (2006) Resistance evolution to Bt crops: Predispersal mating of European corn borers. Plos Biology 4: 1048-1057.

Fournier D, Estoup A, Orivel RM, Foucaud J, Jourdan H et al. (2005) Clonal reproduction by males and females in the little fire ant. Nature 435(7046): 1230-1234.

Malausa T, Bethenod MT, Bontemps A, Bourguet D, Cornuet JM et al. (2005) Assortative mating in sympatric host races of the European corn borer. Science 308(5719): 258-260.

Miller N, Estoup A, Toepfer S, Bourguet D, Lapchin L et al. (2005) Multiple transatlantic introductions of the western corn rootworm. Science 310(5750): 992-992.