INRA, UMR 406 Abeilles et Environnement
Laboratoire Biologie et Protection de l'abeille
Site Agroparc, Domaine Saint-Paul
84914 AVIGNON Cedex 9, France
Post-doc
Dec 2008 - Dec 2010 Postdoctoral research assistant at INRA Avignon (France)
Research supervised by the Pr Yves Le Conte
Integrative analysis of honey bee response to environmental stressors
Nov 2005 - Dec 2008 Postdoctoral research assistant at the University of Illinois (USA)
Research supervised by the Pr Gene Robinson
From genes to society: molecular basis of social behavior in honey bees
PhD
Nov 2001 - Jul 2005 Ph. D. in Animal Behaviour at the University Paris 13 (France)
Research supervised by the Pr Pierre Jaisson and the Pr Abraham Hefetz
Social regulation of reproductive conflict in annual bumble bee Bombus terrestris
Master
2001 Master’s in Animal Behaviour at the University Paris 13 (France)
2000 Master’s in Ecology at the University Paul Sabatier (Toulouse, France)
Bachelor of Science
1999 Licence in Biology of Population and Ecosystems at the University Paul Sabatier (Toulouse, France)
RESEARCH
Current postdoc – INRA Avignon (Unité Abeille et Environnement)
Integrative analysis of honey bee response to environmental stressors
Pollinators, such as honey bees, are considered crucial for the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems, including those dominated by agriculture, because they are on the front line of sustainable productivity through plant reproduction. However, nowadays, bees are mysteriously vanishing. This new phenomenon is characterized by a massive depopulation of hives. Bees have been strangely disappearing from their hives, and strong colonies have suddenly become weak and died. The depopulation syndrome appears to be a complex phenomenon and many causative agents have been pointed to as the cause of colony mortality. The objectives of the proposed project are to determine the effects of the combined action of pesticides and pathogens on honey bee health, in particular to investigate the nature and diversity of responses of the honey bee Apis mellifera to these environmental stressors.
Post-doc - University of Illinois
From genes to society: molecular basis of social behavior in honey bees
The aim of this research was to analyze social behavior at the genome and brain levels in the honey bee Apis mellifera. Honey bees live in a complex society in which each worker performs different tasks during their lifetime. Both heredity and environmental conditions determine when and which tasks a worker performs. Therefore, a better understanding of bee social behavior requires knowledge about whichgenes vary as a result of heredity and which genes respond to the environment. Such analyses were performed with the new honey bee oligonucleotide microarray, based on the recently sequenced honey bee genome, to create brain gene expression profile of bees performing a specific task.
PhD - University Paris 13
Social regulation of reproductive conflict in annual bumble bee Bombus terrestris
The bumble bee Bombus terrestris is used as commercially-produced pollinators used worldwide and is the species of choice for pollination of greenhouse crops. A single, monandrous queen founds a colony, which then develops harmoniously until reaching a final competitive phase during which the workers and the queen compete through antagonistic interactions and oophagy to produce male offspring. The aim of my PhD was to identify the social cues triggering this complete and abrupt switch from the production of workers to the exclusive production of sexuals in order to better control colony development and ultimately optimize bumble bee colony rearing. I showed that non-volatile queen pheromones regulate worker reproduction. The competitive phase starts once workers perceive the change in queen signal indicating female larvae to start development as queens. Neither the colony size (number of workers) nor the worker age influenced the onset of gyne production. However, the actual timing is under queen influence and affected by her age (queen clock). After a specific time, her signal changes, which induces the onset of gyne production. Workers tuned to this pheromone change cease to cooperate with the queen and start to lay eggs and compete with the queen for male production. Finally, despite a high worker reproduction attempt (64% of workers had developed ovaries and 38 % were egg-layers), I found that on average 95% of the males produced during the competition phase are queen-derived.
PUBLICATIONS
Alaux C., Jaisson P., Hefetz A. (2004) Queen influence on worker reproduction in bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) colonies. Insectes Sociaux, 51:287-293
Alaux C., Savarit F., Jaisson P., Hefetz A. (2004) Does the queen win it all ? Queen-worker conflict over male production in the bumblebee, Bombus terrestris. Naturwissenschaften, 91: 00-403
Alaux C., Jaisson P., Hefetz A. (2005) Reproductive decision-making in semelparous colonies of the bumblebee Bombus terrestris. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 59: 270-277
Alaux C., Jaisson P., Hefetz A. (2006) Regulation of worker reproduction in bumblebees (Bombus terrestris): workers eavesdrop on a queen signal. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 60: 439-446
Alaux C., Hefetz A., Jaisson P. (2006). Plasticity of worker reproductive strategies in Bombus terrestris: lessons from artificial mixed-species colonies. Animal Behaviour, 72: 1417-1425
Alaux C., Malvinat B., Jaisson P., Hefetz A. (2007) Reproductive plasticity in Bombus terrestris workers – reversion from fertility to sterility under queen influence. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 62: 213-222
Alaux C., Robinson G.E. (2007) Alarm pheromone induces immediate-early gene expression and slow behavioral response in honey bees. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 33: 1346-1350
NavajasM., Migeon A.*, AlauxC.*, Cros-ArteilS., Martin-Magniette M.L., Robinson G.E., EvansJ.D.,Crauser D., Le Conte Y. (2008) Differential gene expression of the honey bee Apis mellifera associated with Varroa destructor infection. BMC Genomics, 9: 301. Highly accessed, *equally contributed
Alaux C., Le Conte Y., Adams H.A., Rodriguez-Zas S., Grozinger C.M., Sinha S., Robinson G.E. (2009) Regulation of brain gene expression in honey bees by brood pheromone. Genes, Brain and Behavior, 9:309-319
Zinck L., Denis D., Hora R.R., Alaux C., Lenoir A., Hefetz A., Jaisson P. (2009) Behavioral and chemical correlates of long-term queen adoption in the facultative polygynous ant Ectatomma tuberculatum. Journal of Insect Behavior, 22: 362-374
Alaux C*., Duong N*., Schneider S.S., Southey B.R., Rodriguez-Zas S., Robinson G.E. (2009) Modulatory communication signal performance is associated with a distinct neurogenomic state in honey bees. PLoS ONE, 4 (8): e6694 [* equally contributed]
Alaux C., Shina S., Hasadsri L., Hunt G.J., Guzman-Novoa E., DeGrandi-Hoffman G., Uribe-Rubio J.L., Southey B.R., Rodriguez-Zas S., Robinson G.E. (2009) Honey bee aggression supports a link between gene regulation and behavioral evolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0907043106
Alaux C., Brunet J.-L., Dussaubat C., Mondet F., Tchamitchan S., Cousin M., Brillard J., Baldy A., Belzunces L.P., Le Conte Y. (2010) Interactions between Nosema microspores and a neonicotinoid weaken honeybees (Apis mellifera). Environmental Microbiology, 12: 774–782 [ask a copy]
Alaux C., Ducloz F., Crauser D., Le Conte Y. (2010) Diet effects on honeybee immunocompetence. Biology Letters, doi:10.1098/rsbl.2009.0986 [ask a copy]
Rédacteur : UMR 406 Unité : UMR 406 INRA UAPV Abeilles et Environnement, INRA, Avignon - Laboratoire de Biologie et Protection de l'Abeille Département : Santé des Plantes et Environnement
Date de création : 26/11/2007
Date de dernière mise à jour : 05/03/2010
INRA PACA. Domaine Saint Paul Site Agroparc 84914 Avignon cedex 9 tél : (33) 04 32 72 20 00 - fax : (33) 04 32 72 20 42
