top of page
en

This is my personal website. Please note that my lab website is not available yet.
Below, you will find an overview of my past research achievements and interests.

Ecological genomics in yeasts

 

Budding yeasts of the genus Saccharomyces are one of the most powerful Eukaryotic models, with which it is possible to identify complex evolutionary processes of speciation and adaptation. I used wild populations of S. paradoxus, the sister species of S. cerevisiae, as a model to understand the ecological, biological and molecular bases of such processes.

​

Thanks to a thorough sampling campaign in Québec (Canada) and collaborators across North America, we assembled a large collection of strains representative of the diversity of this species. We identified two main genetically distinct lineages of S. paradoxus distributed according to a north-south gradient, suggesting that climatic factors could have played a role in the divergence of these two lineages. According to their geographical distribution, these lineages indeed responded differently to climatic variations and individual fitnesses correlated with environmental conditions at the sampling location. These results provided the first evidence that, as in more complex organisms, populations of microorganisms undergo local climatic adaptation and could, by extension, be affected by climate change.

​

We showed that S. paradoxus lineages, despite overlapping geographical distributions, are reproductively isolated, suggesting that they currently undergoing a speciation process Interestingly, the geographical distribution of these incipient species resembles the distribution of post-glacial tree, fish and drosophila species, suggesting divergence by allopatry during the last glaciation. We provided strong evidence that reproductive isolation is correlated with chromosomal rearrangements (CRs) within lineages, suggesting that CRs could be a major contributor in the initiation of speciation.

​

We used population genomics in American populations of Saccharomyces paradoxus to identify hybridation and chromosomal rearrangements underlying the early stages of this ecological speciation event.

​

Link: Labo Landry - Université Laval, Québec (Canada)

  • Leducq JB, M Henault*, G Charron, L Nielly-Thibault, Y Terrat, HL Fiumera, BJ Shapiro and CR Landry (2017) Mitochondrial Recombination and Introgression during Speciation by Hybridization. Molecular Biology and Evolution 34(8): 1947–1959

  • Marsit S, JB Leducq, É Durand, A Marchant, M Filteau and CR Landry (2017) Evolutionary biology through the lens of budding yeast comparative genomics. Nature Reviews Genetics 18(10): 581-598

  • Eberlein C, L Nielly-Thibault, H Maaroufi, AK Dubé, JB Leducq, G Charron and CR Landry (2017) The rapid evolution of an ohnolog contributes to the ecological specialization of incipient yeast species. Molecular Biology and Evolution 34 (9): 2173–2186

  • Peris D, RV Moriarty, WG Alexander, E Baker, K Sylvester, M Sardi, QK Langdon, D Libkind, QM Wang, FY Bai, JB Leducq, G Charron, CR Landry, JP Sampaio, P Gonçalves, KE Hyma, JC Fay, TK Sato and CT Hittinger (2017) Hybridization and adaptive evolution of diverse Saccharomyces species for cellulosic biofuel production." Biotechnology for Biofuels 10(1): 78

  • Leducq JB*, L Nielly-Thibault*, G Charron*,C Eberlein, JP Verta, P Samani, K Sylvester, CT Hittinger, G Bell and CR Landry (2016) Speciation driven by hybridization and chromosomal plasticity in a wild yeast. Nat Microbiol 1, 15003


  • Barbosa R, P Almeida, SV Safar, RO Santos, PB Morais, L Nielly-Thibault, JB Leducq, CR Landry, P Goncalves (2016) CA Rosa and JP Sampaio. Evidence of Natural Hybridization in Brazilian Wild Lineages of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genome Biol Evol 8(2): 317-329

  • Peris, D. QK Langdon, RV. Moriarty, K Sylvester, M Bontrager, G Charron, J-B Leducq, CR. Landry, D Libkind and CT Hittinger. (2016) Complex Ancestries of Lager-Brewing Hybrids Were Shaped by Standing Variation in the Wild Yeast Saccharomyces eubayanus. PLoS Genet 12(7): e1006155

  • Eberlein C, J-B Leducq & CR Landry (2015) The genomics of wild yeast populations sheds new light on the domestication of Man’s best (micro) friend. Molecular Ecology 24(21): 5309-5311 [online]

  • Freel KC, G Charron, J-B Leducq, CR Landry & J Schacherer (2015) Lachancea quebecensis sp. nov., a yeast species consistently isolated from tree bark in the Canadian province of Québec. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (doi: 10.1099/ijsem.0.000426) [online][pubmed]

  • Charron G*, J-B Leducq* & CR Landry (2014) Chromosomal variation segregates within incipient species and correlate with reproductive isolation. Molecular Ecology 23(17): 4362-4372 [pdf] [pubmed]

  • Leducq J-B. Ecological genomics of adaptation and speciation in fungi. (2014) Adv Exp Medi. & Bio 781: 49-72 [pdf] [pubmed]

  • Leducq J-B*, G Charron*, P Samani, AK Dube, K Sylvester, B James, P Almeida, JP Sampaio, CT Hittinger, G Bell & CR Landry (2014) Local climatic adaptation in a widespread microorganism. Proc Royal Soc B 281(1777): 20132472 [pdf] [pubmed]

  • Charron G*, J-B Leducq*, C Bertin, AK Dube & CR Landry (2014)  Exploring the northern limit of the distribution of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomyces paradoxus in North America. FEMS Yeast Res 14(2): 281-288 [pdf] [pubmed]

bottom of page