Diversity, Ecology and Evolution of Microbes
DEEM Team

We have broad interest in different questions on the ecology and evolution of microbial life, from the origin of microbial diversity and its evolution since life emerged on Earth to the role of microbial communities in biogeochemical cycles. We combine complementary approaches including the exploration of extant prokaryotic and eukaryotic diversity by metabarcoding analysis, metagenomics, single cell ‘omics’ and phylogenomics to infer microbial functions and to elucidate the order of emergence of the different microbial groups and unravel their early evolutionary history. We have also broad interdisciplinary questions, in particular at the biology-geology interface.

The DEEM team, initially co-founded by Puri Lopez-Garcia and David Moreira, is one of the seven research components in the Ecology, Systematics and Evolution unit (UMR 8079, CNRS – Université Paris-Saclay – AgroParisTech) now at the IDEEV site (Gif-sur-Yvette, France).

Latest in press

Looking for the closest Asgard archaeal ancestry of eukaryotes

A new thermophilic cyanobacterium of the order Gloeomargaritales, the closest known relatives of plastids

Metagenome-based inference of virus:microbe ratios across ecosystems suggests that DNA viruses have comparable abundances, at the order-of-magnitude level, to those of cells

New apusomonad flagellate species and genera add to the phylogenetic tree of eukaryotes

New data confirm that aphelids and fungi are sister clades and support a new division of Holomycota into Phytophagea (aphelids+fungi) and Opisthophagea (rozellids+microsporidia).

Field trips

March 2023 - North of Chile: A new expedition to high altitude salt flats (‘salares’) and hot springs in the North of the Chilean Altiplano (Region de Atacama).

August 2022 - North of Canada: We have sampled thermokarstic lakes formed by the degradation of the permafrost to study greenhouse gas fluxes related to microbial acitity.

March 2022 - North of Chile: For several weeks, we have been sampling high altitude salt flats (‘salares’) and hot springs in the North of the Chilean Altiplano (Region de Antofagasta).

September 2021 - Iceland: a tour to collect diverse samples from hot springs across the island.

More information

Open positions

If you are a motivated graduate or PhD student or a young postdoc interested in our research activities and wishing to develop an original research project, please do not hesitate to contact us for an internship, a prospective position or to prepare an application to funding agencies.

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Contact us

Address :
DEEM team - Unité d’Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution
Site IDEEV 12 rue 128, 91190 Gif-sur-Yvette, France

Phone: +33 (0)1 69 15 76 08