The laboratory is strongly contributing to improve genetic resources for the diatom model species Phaeodactylum tricornutum, in the framework of the French European Marine Biological Resource Centre, the European Marine Biological Research Infrastructure Cluster (EMBRIC), the Association of European Marine Biological Research Laboratories Expanded (Assemble plus) and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s Marine Microbiology Initiative.
In particular, the laboratory is generating a collection of transgenic lines with a deregulated expression of each of the 220 Transcription Factor of P. tricornutum, currently being built by RNA interference (RNAi). Around 150 RNAi TF specific vectors have been already generated as well as 330 RNAi lines of the bHLH-PAS transcription family.
For more information : soizic.cheminant-navarro@ibpc.fr.
In parallel, the laboratory is also participating in international efforts aiming to set up and improve genome editing in P. tricornutum and other species by the CRISPR-Cas9 technology. The laboratory is also contributing to establish a modular cloning system to facilitate cloning and expression of diatom genes in P. tricornutum.