People >> Antoine Branca

Name: Dr. Antoine Branca Status: Postdoc Email: a.brancauni-muenster.de Room:  100.22 Tel:  +49-(0)251-83-21636

• Host-parasite coevolution
• Population genomics
• Comparative genomics
• Next-Generation Sequencing

• since Oct 2010: Post Doc at the Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity, Evolutionary Bioinformatics Group, Prof. Erich Bornberg-Bauer; Research Scientist of the DFG-SPP "Host Parasite Coevolution"
• Jun. 2009 - Aug. 2010: Post Doc at the University of Minnesota, Department of Plant Biology in Saint-Paul in the group of Dr. Peter Tiffin in Saint-Paul
• Feb. 2009: PhD degree at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris                  topic of the thesis: Ecological diversification of the African parasitoid Cotesia sesamiae: Role of symbiotic partners
• Sep. 2005 - Feb. 2009: PhD studies under the supervision of Dr. Stéphane Dupas at the Laboratory Evolution, Genome and Speciation in Gif-sur-Yvette

• Paape, T.D., Zhou, P., Branca, A., Briskine, R., T., Young, N.D., Tiffin, P. (2012)  "Fine scale population recombination rates, hotspots and correlates of recombination in the Medicago truncatula genome" Genome Biology and Evolution Accepted

• Branca, A., Paape, T.D., Zhou, P., Briskine, R., Farmer, A.D., Mudge, J., Bharti, A.K., Woodward, J.E., May, G.D., Gentzbittel, L., Ben, C., Denny, R., Sadowsky, M.J., Ronfort, J., Bataillon, T., Young, N.D., Tiffin, P. (2011) "Whole-genome nucleotide diversity, recombination,,linkage disequilibrium in the model legume Medicago truncatula" PNAS 108 (42) E864-E870

• Branca, A., Gitau, C. W., Dupas, S. (2011) “Maintenance of specialized parasitoid populations through polyDNAviruses” In: Parasitoid Viruses: Symbionts and Pathogens (eds N. E. Beckage and J.-M. Drezen), Elsevier

• Branca, A. , Le Rü, B. P., Vavre F., Silvain J.-F., Dupas, S. (2011) "Intraspecific specialization of the generalist parasitoid Cotesia sesamiae revealed by polyDNAvirus polymorphism and associated with different Wolbachia infections." Molecular Ecology 20 (5) 959–971

• Faure N., Branca, A., Gigot, G., Dupas, S., Silvain, J-F. (2009) "Isolation and characterization of ten microsatellite loci in Cotesia sesamiae (Cameron) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a parasitoid of African stem borer pests." Molecular Ecology Resources 9 (5) 1375-1379.

• Branca, A., Vavre F., Silvain J.-F., Dupas, S. (2009) "Maintenance of adaptive differentiation by Wolbachia induced bidirectional cytoplasmic incompatibility: sib-mating and reproductive system matter." BMC Evolutionary Biology 9:185.

• Dupas, S., Gitau, C. W., Branca, A., Le Rü, B. P., Silvain, J.-F. (2008) " Evolution of a Polydnavirus Gene in Relation to Parasitoid-Host Species Immune Resistance." Journal of Heredity 99(5):491-499.

• Branca, A., Dupas, S. (2006) " A model for the study of Wolbachia pipientis Hertig(Rickettsiales:Rickettsiaceae)-induced cytoplasmic incompatibility in arrhenotokous haplodiploid populations: Consequences for biological control." Annales de la Société entomologique de France 42:443-448.

• Lopez-Villavicencio, M., Branca, A., Giraud, T., Shykoff, J. (2005) "Sex-specific effect of
  Microbotryum violaceum (Uredinales) spores on healthy plants of the gynodioecious Gypsophila repens (Caryophyllaceae)." American Journal of Botany 92: 896-900.

• International Conference on Lepidopteran Cereal Stem and Cob Borers in Africa (Nairobi, Kenya, October 24-28, 2005)
• Evolutionary Biology meeting (Marseille, France, September 20-22, 2006) 1st International Entomophagous Insect Conference (Minneapolis, Minnesota July 27-31, 2009)
• Congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (Uppsala, Sweden, August 20-25, 2007)
• XVIII Plant and Animal Genome Conference (San Diego, California, January 9-13 2010)
• Annual meeting of the Society of Molecular Biology and Evolution (Lyon,France, July 4-8 2010)

Experimental co-evolution of Bacillus thuringiensis and Caenorhabditis elegans

 DFG PRIORITY PROGRAM

The bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis are one of the most used bio-pesticide in the world. These bacteria can infect a wide range of organisms, mainly arthropods, but also nematods like Caenorhabditis elegans. A host-parasite co-evolution experiment between Bacillus thuringiensis and Caenorhabditis elegans has been performed to detect phenotypic changes during co-adaptation process of host and parasite. My work is to go deeper inside genetic changes occuring during the experiment, allowing the different partners to adapt. To do so, I am mainly using next-generation sequencing and population genetics tools on whole-genome sequence of pooled populations.

Main Collaborator: Dr Anna Sheppard and Prof Hinrich Schulenburg, University of Kiel (http://www.uni-kiel.de/zoologie /evoecogen/schulenburg/ )