“Investigation of the contribution of host-associated and environmental microbiomes to the Hg detoxification strategies of two caiman species in French Guiana”
Environmental contamination is becoming one of the most worrying global threats to humans and wildlife worldwide. Mercury (Hg) is naturally present in the environment where anthropogenic activities such as gold mining increase its release. Hg then bioaccumulates within organisms and further biomagnifies through the food chain, leading to high concentrations and detrimental effects in top predators such as Caimans. In regions naturally rich in gold such as French Guiana, caimans are particularly impacted by Hg contamination which affects their physiology and reproduction, but the detoxification processes are poorly understood (https://caimanconservation.wixsite.com/caimanconservation).
It is known that microorganisms can encode mechanisms of resistance to Hg toxicity, and these are collectively called Mercury-resistant bacteria (MRB). We hypothesize that MRB are implicated in the heavy metal resistance of the Black caiman Melanosuchus niger, the most Hg-contaminated crocodile species studied so far in South America, and to a much lesser extent in that of the Smooth-fronted caiman, Paleosuchus trigonatus, which displays different strategies to counteract Hg toxicity.
We are looking for a motivated student with a background in environmental microbiology, molecular microbiology or behavioral biology with a will to learn molecular techniques to join our team and investigate via untargeted and targeted molecular methods the microbiome associated with both crocodilian species in the French Guiana, in order to understand its potential contribution to the Hg resistance and detoxification in both species.
What you can learn:
· Standard environmental microbiology methods (DNA extraction, PCR, qPCR, amplicon generation, NGS data processing) and diversity analysis methods
· working with functional marker genes beyond 16S rRNA
· Principles of ecotoxicology
· Principles of Crocodylian physiology and ecology
The lab work will be conducted at the Archaea Biology and Ecogenomics Unit. Interested students should contact the co-supervisors:
Dr. Zhen-Hao Luo
Dr. Jérémy Lemaire
