How Plants Communicate with their Biotic Environment

After studying in Paris, Guillaume Bécard got his PhD at Laval University (Canada) and did a four-year post-doc in a USDA laboratory in Philadelphia (USA). He was then recruited by the University of Toulouse (France) in 1993 as a biology professor. He is studying an ancient and widespread plant symbiosis that occurs between plant roots and certain soil fungi called arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. This symbiosis enhances mineral and water nutrition of plants and their resistance to environmental stress. With his research team he has contributed in recent years to the discover of the molecular signals and ancestral mechanisms involved in the recognition between the plant and the fungus. He is also involved through industrial collaboration in the promotion of the agronomic use of mycorrhizae to reduce requirements of irrigation, chemical fertilizers and pesticides.