Défense de thèse de doctorat - sciences biologiques

Characterization of the brain molecular bases of personalities and assessment of their developmental plasticity in response to environmental stressors using an emerging model fish species, the mangrove rivulus, Kryptolebias marmoratus

Jury

• Eric DEPIEREUX (UNamur), Président
• Frédéric SILVESTRE (UNamur), Secrétaire
• Mathieu DENOEL (Université de Liège)
• Serge ARON (Université Libre de Bruxelles)
• Sophie PRUD'HOMME (Université de Lorraine, France)
• Anne-Sophie VOISIN (Swiss Center for Applied Ecotoxocology, Switzerland)
• Ryan EARLEY (University of Alabama, USA)
  

Abstract

The widespread existence of personalities across the animal kingdom suggests an evolutionary relevance The consistent between-­‐individual differences in behavior over time and across contexts, also called personality traits or behavioral individualities, influence various parameters such as food access, social interactions, survival and, ultimately, the fitness of organisms. Although animal behavior constitutes the interactive link between an organism and its environment, behavioral individualities are largely interconnected with ecological dynamics and population evolution. Nowadays, organisms have to face (rapid) changing environmental conditions mostly related to human impacts. Early-­‐life is recognized as a sensitive window during which the environment can have long-­‐lasting effects on the organism phenotype later in life. Discovering how environmental changes can influence phenotypic variability is crucial to understand individual traits and animal’s ability to acclimate to new environmental conditions during development and adulthood. Hence, the objectives of this thesis consist to investigate personality traits (boldness and aggressiveness), their brain molecular bases as well as their developmental plasticity and the sequence of key molecular events leading to potential behavioral modifications that could permit the organisms to cope with new environmental conditions. Hermaphrodites of the mangrove rivulus fish, Kryptolebias marmoratus, expressing very low to no genetic variability between individuals of a same lineage were used in this thesis providing an incredible model to identify the genetic and environmental sources of phenotypic variability. This unique vertebrate can self-­‐fertilize and naturally produces highly homozygous and isogenic individuals within lineages.

The session is public.

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