
Nicolas Soler
- Université de Lorraine (UL)
- Faculté des Sciences et Technologies [Université de Lorraine] (FST)
- Dynamique des Génomes et Adaptation Microbienne (DynAMic)
- Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)
- Département Microbiologie et Chaîne Alimentaire - INRAE (MICA)
- Dynamique des Génomes et Adaptation Microbienne (DynAMic)
Présentation
Biography I carried out my PhD in microbiology at the Université Paris-Sud, in professor Patrick Forterre’s laboratory. My work, defended in 2007, focused on searching and characterizing mobile genetic elements from hyperthermophilic archaea. This raised my interest in molecular microbiology and the evolution of genomes. I was then recruited by the CNRS from 2007 to 2010, in G Baldacci’s team in Institut Curie, in order to work on 2 essential proteins in yeast in connection with DNA replication. Next, I joined Dr Stéphane Emiliani’s lab at the Institut Cochin in Paris for 3 years to study the early steps of the HIV-1 cycle. Since September 2013, I have been working in the DynAMic lab at the University of Lorraine. There, I am studying the molecular aspects of conjugation in Gram+ bacteria, in the team headed by Pr Nathalie Leblond-Bourget.
Research My progress in research enabled me to discover several aspects of biology; indeed, I worked successively on archaea, eucaryotes, a virus, and bacteria, still focusing on micro-organisms and their evolution. During my PhD, I looked for mobile genetic elements, plasmids and viruses, from hyperthermophilic archaea. These pioneering works on Thermococcales led to the discovery of new families of plasmids; consequently, new genetic tools were implemented for this arising phylum. I also highlighted a massive production of membrane vesicles from these archaea, which have since then been involved in horizontal gene transfer. My skills in protein biochemistry enabled me to integrate the Institut Curie where I worked on the biochemical and biophysical characterization of two essential proteins in yeast. These proteins, conserved in eucaryotes, are involved in the biogenesis of the Fe/S clusters in connection with DNA replication. I was then recruited by Institut Cochin to characterize multiprotein complexes, which form during the early steps of lymphocyte infection by HIV-1. I especially focused on viral integrase and how it interacts with other viral or cellular partners. Since I was recruited at the Unviversité de Lorraine, I have been developing a new topic aiming at characterizing the first steps of bacterial conjugation in streptococcus using an ICE model, with molecular and structural approaches. Over the last few years, it has been demonstrated that ICEs are prevalent in bacterial genomes and that they are involved in the transfer of both antibiotic resistance and virulence genes. Characterization of their transfer at the molecular level may one day give insights to limit antibiotic resistance genes to spread. Morevover, whereas some aspects of conjugation are now well understood in proteobacteria, very little data is today available in Firmicutes. Yet, they harbor a lot of multiresistant strains which threaten public health. Thus, when I arrived in DynAMic lab, I was immediately attracted by ICEs as an emerging study topic in Gram+ bacteria.
Teaching Since 2013, I have been teaching formal genetics, general microbiology and microbial ecology at a bachelor level as an associate professor at the University of Lorraine. I also teach in molecular microbiology and virology within the Microbiology master degree. Moreover, since 2022 I am responsible of a training in biotechnology engineering, the “Cursus Master en Ingénierie Biotechnologies en Microbiologie et Ingénierie Moléculaire” (BioMIM) of the Université de Lorraine. This training is a five-year training based on a bachelor and a master degree with a special focus on project-based learning.
Domaines de recherche
Publications
Publications
Characterization of the ICESt3 relaxase active site indicates evolutionary relationship between MOBT relaxases and rolling circle replication proteins of the Rep-trans family.Type IV Secretion in Gram-Negative and Gram-Positive Bacteria conference, Dec 2016, Beilngries, Germany
Communication dans un congrès
hal-02974522
v1
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Plasmids from EuryarchaeotaMarcelo E. Tolmasky, Juan C. Alonso. Plasmids: Biology and Impact in Biotechnology and Discovery, ASM Press, pp.718, 2015, 9781555818975
Chapitre d'ouvrage
hal-01478643
v1
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