Since the industrial revolution, the level of physical activity drastically declined while the amount of ingested calories increased and those of essential omega-3 fatty acids (w3) decreased. Physical activity, caloric intake and w3 are beneficial for health and survival. However, no study tried to identify the interactions between these parameters, and given their importance, we hypothesize that a strong synergistic effect may exist between them. We thus propose to test the effects of a multi-modal intervention combining chronic caloric restriction (CR), physical activity (ACT) and optimal w3 levels on longevity and brain ageing in a primate (Microcebus murinus). The three interventions will be applied either individually (ACT, CR, w3) or in interaction (ACT/CR/w3, ACT/w3, ACT/CR, CR/w3). The project will focus on age-related neurodegeneration in link with cognitive functions and metabolic disorders. For the first time in mouse lemur, we will use non-invasive methods to evaluate biomarkers of central nervous system alterations, based on retina study, through the emerging concept of “the eye as a window to the brain”. A lower rate of age-related pathologies and extended lifespan are expected in the group receiving the three treatments. This synergistic approach represents new avenues to an optimal longevity.

The neck, specific to tetrapods, emerged congruent with limbs during the vertebrate water-to-land transition. This morphological innovation resulted from the adaptation of the musculoskeletal system and required profound developmental rearrangements. In vertebrates, the musculoskeletal systems of the head and trunk have different evolutionary and embryonic origins and their development depends on distinct molecular mechanisms. The neck region constitutes a transition zone of mixed embryonic origin at the head-trunk interface and the morphogenetic actors regulating its formation remain elusive. The present project aims to determinate the developmental processes at the origin of the neck musculoskeletal system in tetrapods. By genetic conditional inactivation strategies in the mouse, we will investigate cellular and molecular actors of mammalian neck musculoskeletal assembly. Through high-throughput transcriptome profiling in the mouse embryo and advanced bioinformatics analyses, we will explore the transcriptomic signature and identify molecular determinants of mammalian neck morphogenesis. We will then compare the spatiotemporal expression of molecular actors of neck development in key conventional and unconventional organisms representative of major jawed vertebrate taxa. The study will determine conservation and divergence in genetic programs taking place at the head-trunk interface in fish, amphibian, mammalian, lizard and bird organisms. The complementary research axes will permit to elucidate the developmental determinants and evolutionary origins of the tetrapod neck. Our data will also bring new insights for the understanding of some human congenital disorders in which the neck musculoskeletal system is specifically affected.

Recent studies suggest that transgenerational metabolic impairments induced by endocrine disruptors (ED) exposure are key contributing factors in amphibian population decline by altering individual fitness. However, several questions remain to be explored: How do obesogenic EDs act in frogs? What are the crosstalks with other hormonal axes?) Which parent transmits the metabolic disorders to progeny? Are transgenerational metabolic disorders dependent on epigenetic modifications or linked to diminished reserve stores in eggs by females thereby affecting the progeny metabolism? To what extent may delayed life history traits changes in progeny compromise the demographic maintenance of amphibian populations. The Macdonald project will address these questions by studying the effect of a mixture of 6 obesogenic EDs at environmental concentrations over 3 generations of X. tropicalis (F0 exposed and F1/F2 unexposed). The effects of mixture will be evaluated at each generation through growth parameters, reproductive, thyroid and neurodevelopmental effects, metabolic impairments and transgenerational inheritance. Finally, stage-structured population models will be built based on the developmental and reproduction parameters recorded to assess potential demographic impacts of ED exposure.

Researchers from IGBMC, associated with the French Society of Developmental Biology (SFBD), a very active society that has been federating researchers working in the field of animal or plant developmental biology for more than 50 years, are organizing this year, in partnership with the Society of Developmental Biology of Japan (JSDB) and the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP), a double scientific and citizen-oriented event, to be held in November 2022. On one hand, a scientific conference entitled "3rd Franco-Japanese conference (SFBD-JSDB) New Frontiers in Developmental Biology - Celebrating the Diversity of Life" whose objective is to expose the major advances made in this field of research by bringing together internationally renowned scientists from Japan and France, among others. On the other hand, multiple actions towards the lay public will be organized in parallel to the conference of scientific experts. We wish to bring scientists and citizens closer in many ways. Recognizing that the general public is in fact made up of many different audiences of various ages and interests, we have imagined a multi-format scientific mediation project, in order to be able to reach out to our fellow citizens. We plan to organize specialized workshops in developmental biology for schoolchildren, two introductory conferences for the general public, and the opening of our scientific seminars to about ten citizens per half-day, as well as the participation of high school students to poster sessions. We have also initiated a partnership with the Haute École des Arts du Rhin (HEAR) in order to set up an exhibition of student artworks around developmental biology. These productions are being created after a day of interaction between scientists and students, and via a tutoring of each student by a scientist. Finally, we are planning a video-mapping event (public projection of animated images with a music, on a façade) in Strasbourg, accessible to all. Our ambition here is to mix the richness of colors, forms and dynamic processes of our research field with the architecture of Strasbourg, with a sound accompaniment. Within the framework of this call, we apply here for financial support us for those actions concerning the scientific mediation in schools / with pupils, a project we have called "Valorizing the biology of the development in the Strasbourg school environment". These actions are carried out in partnership with actors of CSTI, including the Jardin des Sciences of the University of Strasbourg and the Maison pour la Science Alsace. These actions involve in addition the HEAR, whose students prepare mediation supports (pop-up books and other creative supports) on developmental biology topics. The contribution of the ANR, which will be used to finance the necessary material, will be crucial to materialize these actions. These actions involve three researchers of the IGBMC whose projects have been funded by the AAPG 2019, Anne-Cécile Reymann (as co-organizer of the event) as well as Wojciech Krezel and Helgo Schmidt, two partner team leaders and volunteers for the mediation actions, and will allow to disseminate knowledge of the research performed in these teams. These different actions will allow us to make our discipline better known and to anchor it in society. Moreover, we designed these actions as being re-deployable in other contexts and we will share all the necessary information on the site of the SFBD to allow other scientists to use them. We thus hope to amplify and fluidify the transfer of knowledge towards our fellow citizens. In the longer term, our ambition is to create a dynamic aiming at systematizing the incorporation of mediation activities during scientific congresses.

Poly and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are surface-active agents used in in a multitude of manufactured products including firefighting foam, waterproof clothing, non-stick cookware, food packaging, personal care products, electronics and metal plating and even pesticides. Transported over long distances, via atmospheric and oceanic transport, these highly persistent, bioaccumulative pollutants are now ubiquitous. In humans and in laboratory models, PFAS can cause cancer, affect immunocompetence and disrupt the endocrine system. However, the consequences of PFAS exposure remain poorly investigated in wildlife. Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) has been included under the Stockholm Convention on POPs. However, PFAS cover more than 4,700 substances and the vast majority of PFASs are not regulated yet and some are increasingly detected in biota. Furthermore, development and manufacturing of alternative PFAS which are largely uncharacterized in terms of risks, remains ongoing, despite recent evidences of their environmental occurrence in wildlife tissues. Exposure assessments focused only on legacy substances (PFOS, PFOA) may severely underestimate overall exposure in wildlife. Evaluating exposure and effects of PFAS on wildlife is thus an environmental priority. As apex predators, seabirds are relevant bioindicators for marine pollution and there is an urgent need to monitor PFAS across a large range of habitats. To improve our understanding of the global distribution of PFAS and their effects on wildlife, we propose the ToxSeabird project which aim at providing a comprehensive and unprecedented study of the occurrence and toxicity of legacy and emerging PFAS in seabird species along a unique geographical gradient encompassing Antarctic, subantarctic, subtropical, tropical, temperate and subarctic areas, from overseas and metropolitan France. Overseas and metropolitan France holds millions of seabirds including rare endemics and is therefore responsible for a significant part of the marine biodiversity. ToxSeabird involves five partners: Centre d’Etude Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC); Environnements et Paléoenvironnements Océaniques et Continentaux (EPOC); Littoral Environnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (PhyMA), and Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert CURIEN (IPHC). The ToxSeabird project aims to: 1) Document the occurrence of legacy and emerging PFASs in 40 seabird species from overseas and metropolitan France, along Antarctic, tropical, temperate and subarctic areas; 2) Interpret patterns of PFAS contamination through trophic ecology (stable isotopes) and biologging; 3) Experimentally investigate effects of PFAS on key physiological mechanisms (hormones, oxidative stress, telomeres); 4) Relate PFAS contamination to demographic parameters using ongoing long-term ringing studies. Our project should give new insight into the exposome of seabirds across an unprecedented latitudinal gradient and provide innovative information about the poorly explored effects of PFAS on wildlife.