From September 14 to 18, 2025, several members of the IBSP team participated in the Alamy 9 conference, a major event for the starch research community.
Christophe D’Hulst – Invited Lecture
He presented My sweet tuber, a synthesis of work aimed at understanding Cold-Induced Sweetening (CIS) in potatoes. Through a global proteomic and metabolomic approach using FT-ICR MS, his team explores the physiological mechanisms that allow certain varieties to better resist CIS, a central issue for the industrial quality of tubers.
Fabrice Wattebled – Poster
His poster, LIKE EARLY STARVATION is involved in the regulation of starch granule initiation in potato (Solanum tuberosum cv. Désirée) tubers, focused on CRISPR/Cas9 lesv mutants, which show a multiplication of small starch granules in tubers, resembling the phenotypes of isa1/isa2 mutants. Analyses reveal a key role of LESV in granule initiation, as well as a more phosphorylated and digestible starch.
Christophe Colleoni – Oral presentation
The presentation entitled “Characterization of Chlamydial Debranching Enzyme Activity: An Ancestral Contribution to Plant Starch Metabolism” focused on the enzymatic characterization of debranching activities (GlgX) in obligate intracellular bacteria belonging to the phylum Chlamydiae. In line with phylogenetic approaches, which suggest a chlamydial origin for isoamylase-type debranching activities in Archaeplastida, the overall results indicate that the GlgX activity of chlamydiales was pre-adapted for starch formation and was therefore likely retained in the last common ancestor of Archaeplastida.
These contributions highlight the strong involvement of the IBSP team in understanding the mechanisms of starch formation and modification, from gene to tuber phenotype.
