COUTURIER Jérémy

I obtained my PhD in forest biology in November 2007. My Ph.D. focused on the study of molecular mechanisms involved in nitrogen uptake and remobilization in poplar. During my post-doc, my research was mainly focused on the study of the functions of glutaredoxins and their role in the biogenesis of iron-sulfur clusters. In September 2013, I was recruited as an associate professor at the University of Lorraine in the team Stress Response and Redox Regulation of the UMR 1136 UL/INRAE Tree/Microbres Interactions. My research activities are based on three main themes. The first one concerns the redox regulation of proteins in plants and the study of proteins of the glutaredoxin family (GRXs) which are oxidoreductases present in most of prokaryotes and eukaryotes, except for some bacteria and archaea. They are involved in the maintenance of the redox homeostasis of the cell through the reduction of disulfide bridges and more specifically of glutathionylated proteins. In higher plants, there are about thirty isoforms of GRXs. To date, less than ten of these proteins have been characterized in detail. The second major research theme concerns the study of the biogenesis of iron-sulfur clusters (Fe-S). Iron is an essential element for the synthesis of metalloproteins and in particular Fe-S proteins which are involved in vital processes such as photosynthesis, sulfur and nitrogen assimilation. Despite the importance of Fe-S proteins in plant function, current knowledge on Fe-S cluster biogenesis is mainly focused on the identification of the different components of this process, but the role of several of them is still undefined. On the other hand, the relationships between each of the components but also their specificities with respect to their target proteins are also unknown, as well as the underlying molecular mechanisms involved in the functioning and regulation of Fe-S cluster biogenesis. The third theme of my research concerns the molecular mechanisms involved in the mobilization and transfer of sulfur in plants. This theme concerns in particular the study of the role of sulfurtransferases (STRs) in these processes, knowing that these rhodanese domain containing enzymes catalyze the transfer of a sulfur atom from a donor to a nucleophilic acceptor, and that few data exist in plants. I obtained my habilitation in December 2020 and I was appointed as a junior member of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF) for five years starting October 1, 2021.