News on GQE - Le Moulon

24-month Postdoctoral Fellow Position in Quantitative Genetics at GQE-Le Moulon

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100

We are seeking a highly motivated postdoctoral fellow to join our research team at the laboratory Quantitative Genetics and Evolution – Le Moulon (GQE), located on the Paris-Saclay University campus, in the southern vicinity of Paris. The successful candidate will be part of the vibrant scientific environment of the Saclay Plant Science (SPS) community.

Thesis defence - Yuqi NIE

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Tuesday December 16, 2025 - 2:00 pm

Gene regulatory networks structure explain complex traits inheritance and evolution

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The structure of gene regulatory networks help us understand how complex traits and diseases are inherited and evolve

First maize grain trial harvest in years

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Today in the field on the Saclay plateau for the first maize grain harvest in years — a symbolic step for our breeding and field teams !

Postdoctoral Scholar Position: Mechanisms of reproductive isolation between crops and their wild relatives at GQE-Le Moulon

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Location: Université Paris-Saclay
Department: Quantitative Genetics and Evolution – Le Moulon (https://moulon.inrae.fr/en/)
Open and close dates: August 2025 until filled (will begin reviewing applications immediately).
Key words: Evolutionary genomics, Domestication, Speciation, Incompatibilities, Plant.

Plant domestication can be viewed as an early step in the divergence of independently evolving lineages, usually under strong selection at least in the cultivated pool. As a consequence, reproductive isolation between wild and domesticated crops can have already evolved, potentially leading to reproductive isolation (RI) that less fit hybrid offspring when crossed, and at the genome level by the occurrence of genomic regions that act as barriers reducing local gene flow in comparison to the rest of the genome [1]. The ANR-funded DomIsol project aims at characterizing the genomic and phenotypic divergence between crop species and their wild relatives, and inferring the extent of reproductive isolation in 14 species.

She works at IDEEV : Mélisande Blein-Nicolas, research engineer at GQE-Le Moulon

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Mélisande Blein-Nicolas juggles proteins and finances.

Gestionnaire financier.e : mobilité fonction publique

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Vous êtes agent.e catégorie B de la fonction publique et souhaitez vous rapprocher de la région parisienne ou simplement acquérir une nouvelle expérience professionelle ? Un poste de technicien.ne INRAE en gestion financière et comptable est ouvert à la mobilité dans l’unité mixte de recherche GQE-Le Moulon. Les candidatures sont ouverte jusqu’au 9 septembre 2025 sur la plate-forme INRAE JOBS

24-month Postdoctoral Fellow Position in Plant Genomics and Bioinformatics at GQE-Le Moulon

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200

We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced postdoctoral fellow to join our research team at the Institute Jean Pierre Bourgin for Plant Sciences and the laboratory Quantitative Genetics and Evolution – Le Moulon (GQE), located in the southern vicinity of Paris. The successful candidate will be part of the vibrant scientific environment of the Saclay Plant Science (SPS) community and will collaborate closely with researchers from the Institute for Plant Sciences – Paris Saclay (IPS2).

The milpa, from Mesoamerica to present days, a multicropping traditional agricultural system serving agroecology

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Read the article in Les Comptes Rendus Biologies (Académie des Sciences) : https://doi.org/10.5802/crbiol.164

Revival of traditional agricultural systems – A multidisciplinary on-farm survey of maize-bean intercropping reveals unexpected competition effects on beans

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Read the article in Plants, People, Planet : https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ppp3.70049

Tue, 11 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Stand-up for science

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Stand-up for science

Science, the humanities, academic freedom and the university are pillars of democracy (1). In various countries, including France, the scientific approach and academic freedom are challenged by media (2). In the USA, the government is attempting to erase scientific data (3). We are witnessing a massive attack on university and research, that is unprecedented since the second world war. Scientifically proven findings like the evolution of life, the biodiversity crisis or climate change were wrongly denounced as ultra-left-wing/woke political views (4). We are deeply concerned by the Trump/Musk vision for the USA. We are also concerned by the propagation of those anti-scientific ideas in Europe. And this against a backdrop of reduced public funding for academic research and universities (5).

Maud Tenaillon, editor in chief of the journal Genome Biology and Evolution, from January 2025

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0100

A specialist in the genomics of crop plant domestication and adaptation, Maud Tenaillon has been elected Editor-in-Chief of the journal Genome Biology and Evolution (GBE) by the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution (SMBE).

GQE-Le Moulon leaves X

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Since its takeover by Elon Musk in 2022, the publication policy of the X social network has changed significantly, leading to the closure of the accounts of numerous scientific institutes, researcher profiles and media specialising in ecological issues. For mathematician David Chavalarias, the social network X (formerly Twitter) has become a place of ‘disinformation’.

Post-doc at GQE-Le Moulon "Dissecting the genetic mechanisms of environmental adaptation in common bean"

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0100

This post-doctoral position is funded by the European INCREASE project. The starting date could be as soon as April. 1, 2025, and the contract is for 12 months.

In biology, the law of diminishing returns also exists

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0200

An analogy between metabolism and electricity suggests that the “law of diminishing returns” applies to metabolic networks of any complexity

Research in the maize-bean association brought to light: the INCREASE project on Arte !

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Intrigued by the superpowers of beans, an Arte team followed INCREASE scientists to Germany, Italy and France.

PAPPSO users' scientific council will take place on September 23 2024

Wed, 04 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0200

The PAPPSO users’ scientific council will take place on September 23 and will be open to all, users of the facility or interested by its activities. It will be available by video via the following link (https://bbb.visio.inrae.fr/b/oli-nt9-82w-eav)

SATURN project selected by the French National Research Agency

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0200

As part of the Generic Call for Proposals 2024 (AAPG 2024), the French National Research Agency has selected the SATURN project, coordinated by Clémentine Vitte of GQE-Le Moulon. This 4-year project aims to estimate the contribution of transposable elements to the evolution of gene expression regulation in plants. It is based on the complementary expertise of three partners: GQE-Le Moulon (resp. C. Vitte, CNRS), IPS2 (resp. L. Quadrana, CNRS) and URGI (resp. H. Quesneville, INRAe), all members of the Saclay Plant Science.

INCREASE awarded with EU Prize for Citizen Science 2024

Fri, 14 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0200

The European Commission has awarded INCREASE the “Grand Prize” of the EU Prize for Citizen Science 2024. The INCREASE project, with CNRS* as a partner, aims to develop effective conservation tools and methods to promote agrobiodiversity in Europe by enhancing the management and utilization of genetic resources in food legumes. These resources are crucial for agricultural system sustainability, food security, and human health. As part of this initiative, the citizen science experiment invites European citizens to conserve and characterize various bean varieties. To date, over 13,000 citizens have participated over the past three years, documenting valuable scientific insights into variety development using the dedicated “INCREASE CSA” app, specifically developed for the project. Winning this prestigious prize was made possible by the commitment, motivation, and dedication of thousands of individuals. The INCREASE team will use the prize money to develop new features for the app and enhance project communication through videos showcasing experiment results, events, and educational kits for schools. INCREASE project coordinator Roberto Papa from the Polytechnic University of Marche, Italy expressed his gratitude, saying: “We are thrilled, honoured, and grateful to the European Commission and the Prize Committee for their recognition of our work. Their spotlight on the importance of citizen involvement in science is a testament to our shared vision of shaping the future of our societies together”. Kerstin Neumann from IPK Gatersleben, who coordinates the INCREASE Citizen Science Experiment (CSE) adds: “In addition to all the hard-working partners from the INCREASE project, we want to explicitly thank all stakeholders and multipliers for supporting the dissemination of the CSE across Europe. But most of all we want to thank each and every one of our thousands of participants, who are highly motivated and dedicate a lot of time to their tasks as citizen scientists. You are a wonderful community, thank you!”.

Journées ProtéomeVert

Mon, 13 May 2024 00:00:00 +0200

The ProtéomeVert days will be held on June 10 and 11, 2024 in Montpellier. They are aimed at people involved in plant proteomics, who are invited to present both new methodological developments in the fields of sample preparation, mass spectrometry and bioinformatics analysis, and the biological results obtained using proteomics. PAPPSO is co-organizing this event and will be giving several oral presentations.

2e carrefour de la sélection maïs

Mon, 13 May 2024 00:00:00 +0200

The second edition of the Carrefour de la sélection maïs (corn crossroads) will be held on the Agro Paris-Saclay campus on May 28 and 29. This event aims to bring together all public and private actors involved in corn breeding in order to take stock and discuss future directions. GQE-Le Moulon is co-organizing this event with the Promaïs association and several of its members will present their research work. This year, 5 sessions are on the program: Genomics and Evolution, Roots and Microbiota, Promaïs Projects, Selecting Varieties and Agroecological Transition. This event will also be an opportunity to pay tribute to our late colleague Peter Rogowsky.

Immigration law: a text that closes the doors to university

Tue, 19 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Immigration law: a text that closes university doors to foreigners

Maize makes the headlines!

Mon, 18 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Two researchers from our UMR were interviewed to provide commentary in the press on a study about the history of maize published in Science by J. Ross-Ibarra’s team (full reference below).

Molecular Biology Engineer position (CDD 16 months)

Wed, 22 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Functional validation of recombination QTLs in S.cerevisiae within the BASE team - Biology of Adaptation and Systems in Evolution.
Ingeneer (M2) position for 16 months within the ANR project EVOLREC.
May start from January 1st, 2023 on.

GQE-Le Moulon: Le virage agro-écologique

Thu, 16 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0100

OGQE-Le Moulon: Le virage agro-écologique.

Postdoc position (24 months)

Wed, 15 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Postdoc position (24 months): Development of a pipeline to detect polygenic selection in gene expression regulatory networks. GEvAD team hires one research engineer in population genetics (12 month contract - renewable once) as part of the NETWITS ANR

Research Ingineer position (CDD 16 months) in genetics of meiotic recombination

Fri, 13 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Functional validation of recombination QTLs in S.cerevisiae within the BASE team - Biology of Adaptation and Systems in Evolution.
Research Ingeneer (M2 or PhD) position for 16 months within the ANR project EVOLREC.
May start from December 1st, 2023 on.

The genotype-phenotype relationship in the light of Metabolic Control Analysis: a review of its genetic and evolutionary implications

Tue, 03 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Genetic consequences of the non-linearitu of the genotype-phenotype relationship. A. Epistasis. B. Variation of the control coefficient as a function of the enzyme concentration. C. Dominance of the most active allele. D. Heterosis. E. Relation between heterosis and epistasis.

Postdoc opportunity

Wed, 13 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Post-doc opportunity 24 months in GAFL Avignon in collaboration with GEvAD teamat GQE-Le Moulon: Genetic bases and evolution of postzygotic reproductive isolation between wild and domesticated crops.