After completing a bachelor’s degree in Rennes and a master’s degree at the University of Lille (Biology, Ecology, Evolution program), Jade is pursuing her doctorate jointly in two laboratories, EEP and UGSF, within IBSP. Interested in speciation processes and the mechanisms that promote divergence between populations, she specifically studies the role of cyto-nuclear interactions in the emergence of new species. Her work focuses particularly on the mechanism leading to hybrid depression in Silene nutans, a species whose rapid evolution has led to the formation of distinct genetic lineages.
This loss of hybrid viability, characterized by severe chlorosis, leads Jade to seek to identify the chloroplast protein complexes responsible for cyto-nuclear incompatibilities that have contributed to the emergence of reproductive barriers. The objective of her thesis, co-supervised by Ugo Cenci and Malika Chabi, is to combine complementary approaches (biochemistry, bioinformatics, plant physiology, and evolution) to address this issue.

This doctoral project is part of the interdisciplinary PIE (Protein-Interaction-Evolution) project, which aims to combine complementary approaches bringing together plant physiologists, evolutionary biologists, structural biologists, and computer scientists to evaluate the role of protein-protein interaction in biological transitions.

> jade.laouiti@univ-lille.fr