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Under partner negotiations:
CNRS/UPMC Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls sur Mer (OOB)

Contact person

Link to group leader's CV.

University and research group information

The « Groupe Evolution et Développement des Chordes » at Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls sur Mer (OOB), study the developmental mechanisms governing the vertebrate body plan. Our group uses a comparative approach taking advantage of the common evolutionary origin of all vertebrates.

Our laboratory is an oceanographic station with full access to the Mediterranean Sea. We study embryonic development of different species present in the coast, close to the laboratory, especially the cephalochordate amphioxus, an invertebrate chordate that diverged early during evolution and can be considered as a prototypical vertebrate.

Contribution to CASCADE

Within the CASCADE network we use our expertise in comparative genomics of different animal models, especially the zebra fish, to test in vivo different endocrine disruptors that are NR ligands or act through a NR signaling pathway.

Representative scientific articles as relevant to CASCADE

H. Escriva, S. Bertrand, P. Germain, M. Robinson-Rechavi, M. Umbhauer, J. Cartry, M. Duffraisse, L. Holland, H. Gronemeyer, V. Laudet.

Neofunctionalization in vertebrates: the example of retinoic acid receptors.

Genet 2(7): e102 (2006)

M. Schubert, J. K. Yu, N. D. Holland, H. Escriva, V. Laudet, L. Z. Holland.

Retinoic acid signaling acts via Hox1 to establish the posterior limit of the pharynx in the chordate amphioxus.

Development. 132(1): 61-73(2005)

D. Gauchat, H. Escriva, M. Miljkovic-Licina, S. Chera, M. C. Langlois, A. Begue, V. Laudet, B. Galliot.

orphan COUP-TF nuclear receptors are markers for neurogenesis from cnidarians to vertebrates.

Dev. Biol. 275(1):104-23(2004)

H. Escrivà, N. Holland, H. Gronemeyer, V. Laudet, L. Holland.

The retinoic acid signaling pathway regulates anterior/posterior patterning in the nerve cord and pharynx of amphioxus, a chordate lacking neural crest.

Development. 129:2905-16(2002)

H. Escriva, R. Safi, C. Hanni, M. C. Langlois, P. Soumitou-Laprade, D. Stehelin, A. Capron, R. Pierce, V. Laudet.

Ligand binding was acquired during evolution of nuclear receptors.

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 94, 6803-6808(1997)