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DGIMI - Diversity, Genomes and Insects-Microorganisms Interactions

DGIMI is a joint research unit supervised by INRAE and the University of Montpellier. It is located on the Triolet campus of the University of Montpellier, and houses staff from both INRAE and UM.

The research carried out by UMR DGIMI is devoted to the study of interaction mechanisms between insect crop pests, their pathogens and parasites, and their host plants. This research takes into account the diversity of the partners and is based on knowledge of their genomes.

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HAL : Dernières publications

  • [hal-05778778] Selective manipulation of the host RNA-polymerase transcription fidelity increases phenotypic mutations in an insect Parvovirus

    In the dynamic dance of evolution, organisms are often faced with fluctuating environments to which adaptation through selection of traditional heritable genetic mutations can be limiting. In this study, we unveil a refined mechanism of non-heritable variability in a virus with a compact DNA genome. We discovered that the genome of the Junona cœnia densovirus (JcDV) experiences a 10-fold lower transcription fidelity than the rest of the host’s transcriptome, despite the shared transcription machinery. We found that the virus’ capsid proteins interact with the host’s RNA Polymerase II, and further show that truncating these proteins through early stop codons largely restore the transcriptional fidelity of viral genes. These observations suggest a potential mechanism for the selective manipulation of transcription accuracy. We also pinpoint specific sequence contexts that may provide other knobs to finely control the local transcription fidelity. We estimate that this lower transcriptional fidelity results in more than 7% of the viral proteome bearing at least one non-synonymous mutation. The production of non-heritable functional diversity by hijacking the transcriptional machinery might be a refined strategy to enhance short term adaptation within the complex and ever-changing host-parasite interface, and might be shared by other genetic parasites. Our findings shed light on a virus-specific transcription fidelity control mechanism, expanding our understanding of adaptive strategies in biological entities.

    ano.nymous@ccsd.cnrs.fr.invalid (Thomas Labadie) 05 Oct 2026

    https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05778778v1
  • [hal-05780447] Population Genomics Analysis to Reveal Evolutionary Dynamics of Fall Armyworm Global Invasion

    [...]

    ano.nymous@ccsd.cnrs.fr.invalid (Kiwoong Nam) 06 Oct 2026

    https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05780447v1
  • [hal-05734157] Exploratory study to identify factors affecting the presence of genus Steinernema entomopathogenic nematodes in maize fields in South-West France

    Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) are soil-dwelling parasites with a large range of insect hosts. They are valuable components of biological control products against insect pests (in greenhouses, for example) but their large-scale use in field crops is often limited by prohibitive costs, poor persistence, and low efficacy in non-native soils. The use of EPNs in conservation biological control — the use of different agricultural practices to promote the presence of native EPNs in field soils — has recently been proposed. Expanding our previous research mapping the occurrence of Steinernema spp. in maize fields in South-West France, this study explores different methodological approaches for investigating the biotic and abiotic factors associated with Steinernema presence, including soil properties, agricultural practices, and soil nematofauna characteristics. We hypothesised that Steinernema spp. occurrence is primarily driven by soil abiotic properties, agricultural management practices affecting habitat disturbance, and soil nematofauna characteristics, and is further influenced by plant diversity through crop rotations and cover crops. We performed univariate (Spearman’s correlation analysis and Chi2 tests) and multivariate (ANOVA) analyses on 46 explanatory variables obtained from 41 maize plots. We also tested a generalized linear model (GLM). For this last approach, given the large number of explanatory variables relative to the number of plots, we conducted a preliminary selection procedure and reduced the number of variables to four: mean weight diameter (MWD), CaO content, main crop alternation and the diversity of plant species used as cover crops. The various approaches converged to identify maize monoculture over five years as the strongest potential explanatory variable for the presence of Steinernema. These results suggest that, in the maize fields of South-West France, EPNs require a certain stability of the vegetation covering agricultural soils. These findings require confirmation in future studies with additional datasets obtained in other agronomic and pedoclimatic contexts.

    ano.nymous@ccsd.cnrs.fr.invalid (Elisabeth Depuydt) 01 Sep 2026

    https://hal.science/hal-05734157v1

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event From 03 Oct. 2026 to 04 Oct. 2026 Montpellier Science Village (Village des sciences de Montpellier)

Science Festival 2026

For this 2026 edition, the DGIMI laboratory is offering an activity on the theme "Insects, plants, worms, microbes: who eats whom?".