INRA - French National Institute of Agronomical Research news

Research on gut microbiota (bacteria of the digestive tract) has for some years greatly contributed to advancing medical science. Within an international consortium, INRA scientists along with foreign colleagues have shown the impact of the antidiabetic treatment metformin on the gut microbiota of Type 2 Diabetes patients (T2D). The results, published in Nature on December 2, stress that the effects of this treatment need to be considered in the research focusing on the link between gut micro

Work on intestinal microbiota carried out at INRA for more than 30 years has, with the recent development of metagenomics, led to new breakthroughs that have transformed our understanding of the ecosystem of the human digestive tract. Microbiota – the set of bacteria living in our digestive tract – is now considered an organ in itself. Acting on the microbiota for health reasons presents major challenges, but it creates revolutionary possibilities, particularly in terms of nutriti

Researchers at INRA, INSERM, AP-HP, and UPMC have just discovered a new protein with anti-inflammatory properties, which has been named MAM (microbial anti-inflammatory molecule). It is secreted by the bacterium Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and helps fight intestinal inflammation. This discovery, recently published in the journal Gut, is a major advance in efforts to develop new means of treating inflammatory bowel disease. Consequently, the results of this research have great potential futur

Research teams at INRA and the CEA have sequenced the genome of pedunculate oak (Quercus robur). It is the first time a Quercus species – a very common one in the northern hemisphere – has been sequenced. This work provides insight into the adaptation mechanisms of trees to changes in their environment and will be helpful in predicting their reactions to climate change. The findings have been published in a presubmission paper in Molecular Ecology Resources (open access) before a

A French consortium, coordinated by INRA and gathering CEA (Genoscope), CNRS and the Ecoles Normales Supérieures of Paris and Lyon, sequenced and analyzed the genome of the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), which constitutes the first published genome of a salmonid (salmons and trouts family). This sequence, published on April 22, 2014 in Nature Communications, introduces a new scenario for the evolution of vertebrate genomes and opens up new pro