Yves DESSAUX
Department of microbiology
Institute for integrative biology of the cell
CNRS
Avenue de la terrasse
91198 Gif sur Yvette CEDEX
FRANCE
 | yves.dessaux@i2bc.paris-saclay.fr |
Yves Dessaux, 61, is « directeur de recherche » (research advisor) at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France. Trained as a microbiologist at the University of Paris and at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, Yves Dessaux became rapidly interested in plant pathology. He has worked for several years on the pathogen Agrobacterium, essentially on the genetics and physiology of this bacterium in relation with its ability to infect the plant. Most of his studies dealt with the ecological role of opines. This work was performed in France, but also in USA in a collaborative effort with Dr. Stephen K. Farrand’s team (University of Illinois) and in Belgium with Dr. Wiame’s group in Brussels.
In the second half of his carrier, Yves Dessaux became more interested in soil-borne and root-associated microbes. His interest shifted from model-based microbial systems to microbes from the plant ecosystem as he turned to microbial ecology. Noticeably, for the last 15 years he has been investigating the consequence on the microbial populations and communities of the release of carbon compounds by the plant roots (a phenomenon termed exudation) in relation with the possible impact of genetically-modified plants. He published several papers on this topic. One of these papers published in Nature/Biotechnology in 1997, now appears as a “classic” in the field. This part of his investigations has been recently reactivated as the debate of GM plants has re-emerged in the EU.
With his colleagues, Yves Dessaux also addressed intriguing questions in relation with the quorum-sensing (QS) regulation. In short, some bacteria are able to couple gene expression to their cell density. This phenomenon, termed QS, is achieved via the production of signal molecules in the microbial environment, the concentration of which increases along with the cell density, allowing the sensing of the population. His work and that of his co-workers suggested that members of the most common class of QS molecules, the N-acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs), are not highly stable in the plant environment. In relation, he developed culture-based approach and metagenomic techniques to screen soil samples for microbial activities that degrade AHL QS signals. Interestingly, the degradation of QS signals may lead to the quenching of the corresponding QS-regulated functions and hence to novel environmentally –friendly biocontrol procedures towards several major plant pathogens.
Overall, Yves Dessaux has directed a research team of 10/12 persons during some 18 years. Yves Dessaux has published some 90 papers in international peer-reviewed journals and over 25 book chapters, mostly on Agrobacterium and Pseudomonas genetics and physiology, on plant-driven selection of microbes, and on quorum-sensing regulation and quenching. Aside from his laboratory work, he has been an assistant to the scientific director of the Ecology and Environment department at the CNRS headquarters in Paris for 4 years, where he contributed to the monitoring of over 30 laboratories and 1 000 scientists in France and overseas (French Polynesia, French Guyana). Upon a request from the French Ministries of Agriculture and Fisheries, and Ecology and Sustainable development, he recently co-coordinated a major scientific expertise on herbicide tolerant plants that lasted 2 years and involved over 20 specialists from economy to genetics and from law to agronomy.
Since 2010, Yves Dessaux has being pursuing a collaborative effort with Dr. Kok Gan Chan's group at the HIR Center at the University of Malaysia at Kuala Lumpur, with a strong support from the French Embassy. This collaborative effort led to the signature of a Memorandum of understanding between CNRS and the U. of Malaysia that has recently been renewed.
Yves Dessaux currently works as a deputy director of the department of microbiology (14 research teams; ca. 135 persons) of the Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell in Gif sur Yvette, some 30 km south of Paris.
In the second half of his carrier, Yves Dessaux became more interested in soil-borne and root-associated microbes. His interest shifted from model-based microbial systems to microbes from the plant ecosystem as he turned to microbial ecology. Noticeably, for the last 15 years he has been investigating the consequence on the microbial populations and communities of the release of carbon compounds by the plant roots (a phenomenon termed exudation) in relation with the possible impact of genetically-modified plants. He published several papers on this topic. One of these papers published in Nature/Biotechnology in 1997, now appears as a “classic” in the field. This part of his investigations has been recently reactivated as the debate of GM plants has re-emerged in the EU.
With his colleagues, Yves Dessaux also addressed intriguing questions in relation with the quorum-sensing (QS) regulation. In short, some bacteria are able to couple gene expression to their cell density. This phenomenon, termed QS, is achieved via the production of signal molecules in the microbial environment, the concentration of which increases along with the cell density, allowing the sensing of the population. His work and that of his co-workers suggested that members of the most common class of QS molecules, the N-acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs), are not highly stable in the plant environment. In relation, he developed culture-based approach and metagenomic techniques to screen soil samples for microbial activities that degrade AHL QS signals. Interestingly, the degradation of QS signals may lead to the quenching of the corresponding QS-regulated functions and hence to novel environmentally –friendly biocontrol procedures towards several major plant pathogens.
Overall, Yves Dessaux has directed a research team of 10/12 persons during some 18 years. Yves Dessaux has published some 90 papers in international peer-reviewed journals and over 25 book chapters, mostly on Agrobacterium and Pseudomonas genetics and physiology, on plant-driven selection of microbes, and on quorum-sensing regulation and quenching. Aside from his laboratory work, he has been an assistant to the scientific director of the Ecology and Environment department at the CNRS headquarters in Paris for 4 years, where he contributed to the monitoring of over 30 laboratories and 1 000 scientists in France and overseas (French Polynesia, French Guyana). Upon a request from the French Ministries of Agriculture and Fisheries, and Ecology and Sustainable development, he recently co-coordinated a major scientific expertise on herbicide tolerant plants that lasted 2 years and involved over 20 specialists from economy to genetics and from law to agronomy.
Since 2010, Yves Dessaux has being pursuing a collaborative effort with Dr. Kok Gan Chan's group at the HIR Center at the University of Malaysia at Kuala Lumpur, with a strong support from the French Embassy. This collaborative effort led to the signature of a Memorandum of understanding between CNRS and the U. of Malaysia that has recently been renewed.
Yves Dessaux currently works as a deputy director of the department of microbiology (14 research teams; ca. 135 persons) of the Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell in Gif sur Yvette, some 30 km south of Paris.
