Biography
After my university degrees I was determined to work on crop improvement for breeding and make a better food for the future. I started my career in a private company, AGROGENE S.A., specialised in providing molecular markers for breeding program and GMO testing for the worldwide seed market. Supervised by Dr P. Isaac, I was specialised in technical support for our sequencers/analyzer/robot (Applied Biosystems ABI310, 3100, 7700 &7900 and Qiagen robot Q3000) and developing new molecular biology protocols.
I then decided to increase my experience in crop science and started a PhD at the John Innes Centre with Pr G. Moore and P.J. Shaw on the wheat Ph1 locus topic. This is were I developed my main interest in meiosis and the use of cytogenetic techniques to elucidate gene mechanism. I also successfully developed a proteomic approach to study phosphorylation of wheat histone during meiosis and it’s affect on chromatin remodelling one of my favourite topic.
I joined the Scottish Crop Research Institute in 2010 to work on barley meiosis in collaboration with various partner (MeioSys) from the meiosis field and the university of Dundee (A. Barakate, C. Halpin). I also collaborated on establishing the chromatin landscape of barley seedlings in collaboration with A. Flavell. Over the years, I played a central role in establishing the intellectual and cytological capacity to study meiosis in both barley and wheat (Colas et al, 2017). Taking advantage of super resolution microscopy (3D-SIM OMX), and excellent genetic resources, including a collection of independent barley DESYNAPTIC mutants, I have characterised both profound and subtle differences in the modulation of crossing over in large genome crops when compared to the model plant Arabidopsis (Colas et al, 2016, 2017, 2019). In the process I discovered a unique chromosome structure, that I called tinsel, which provided information on how large genomes organize themselves to maintain their integrity during meiosis (1st prize GE healthcare imaging competition). Through the establishment of a collaboration with Dr Pierre Sourdille (INRA, FRANCE) on wheat meiosis it has been shown that wheat chromosomes also form tinsel chromosome structures.
I established myself as an independent investigatator by winning a New Investigator grant in 2019 (BB/T008636/1) to continue my research and passion for crop meiosis.
Research
Breeding programmes have the objectives to develop more productive and more stable varieties. Hybridization and selection are frequently employed in plant breeding but the success of introgression of special traits such as disease resistance relies on genetic recombination between the host and alien chromosomes. However, in cereals such as wheat, rye and barley, genetic recombination (gene shuffling) is not only restricted in number but also high near the telomeres (end of the chromosomes), and rare towards the centromeres (middle of the chromosomes). Because gene shuffling is more frequent towards the telomeres, large area of the chromosomes rarely recombines, despite containing a large number of gene of interrest (e.g pest resistance). Therefore, a better understanding of chromosome pairing, synapsis and recombination would enable in creating tools for manipulation of meiosis to improve cereal breeding.
Over the years, we have characterized several spontanous and induced barley meiotic mutants, and highlighted differences between Arabidopsis and barley, showing the importance in studying meiosis in crops. In particulal, we have identified a novel E3 ubiquitin ligase called STICKY TELOMERES 1 (HvST1) that causes disturbed meiosis in homozygous mutants but also, and surprisingly, a dramatic increase in effective recombination of around 50% in all chromosomes (BB/T008636/1). We are currently looking at the role of the ubiquitination process in controlling meiosis. This work has been instrumental for the success of a BBSRC Alert21 proposal that enabled us to design and purchase a new STED microscope custom made for the imaging of plant tissues. As project co-investigator, I will develop STED imaging of barley meiosis at the James Hutton Institute.
I am also interrested to develop material and protocols to benefit plant breeding and help to deliver new varieties which would be more resilient to climate change and/or emerging diseases. For example, I have been co-investigator for the Innovate UK project 102778 DRRUM with KWS-UK which utilised meiotic screening to facilitate the breeding process. Currently, I am co-PI of the project IncReaCe (Increasing Recombination for Cereal Pre-Breeding, APP2456) that aims to increase recombination in barley/wild relative crosses in collaboration with Luke Ramsay (Project lead).
Publications
The following Publications have not yet been migrated to the James Hutton Institute's Pure service and relate to the research outputs from the two legacy organisations: The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute and The Scottish Crop Research Institute.
Journals
Prior to appointment
- Colas, I.; Koroleva, O.; Shaw, P.J. (2010) Mass spectrometry in plant proteomic analysis., Plant Biosystems 144, 703-714.
- Colas, I.; Shaw, P.; Prieto, P.; Wanous, M.; Spielmeyer, W.; Mago, R.; Moore, G. (2008) Effective chromosome pairing requires chromatin remodelling at the onset of meiosis., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS),105, 6075-6080.
- Griffith, S.; Sharp, R.; Foote, T.N.; Bertin, I.; Wanous, M.; Reader, S.; Colas, I.; Moore, G. (2006) Molecular characterization of Ph1 as a major chromosome pairing locus in polyploid wheat., Nature, 39, 749-752.
Conference posters / abstracts
- Barakate, A.; Stephens, J.; Higgins, J.; Ramsay, L.; Colas, I.; Halpin, C.; Waugh, R.; Jenkins, G.; Phillips, D.; Armstrong, S.; Franklin, C. (2011) Manipulation of meiotic recombination in barley., 3rd British Meiosis Meeting, Sheffield, April 2011.
- Wnetrzak, J.; Phillips, D.; Nibau, C.; Ramsay, L.; Colas, I.; Jenkins, G. (2011) Progression of meiosis in wild type and mutant barley., EMBO Meiosis Conference, Paestum, Italy, 17-21 September 2011.
- Colas, I.; Ramsay, L.; Waugh, R.; Meiosys Consortium. (2011) The use of the barley desynaptic mutants to study recombination in cereals ., EMBO Meiosis Meeting, Paestum, Italy, 17-21 September 2011.
- Colas, I.; Ramsay, L.; Waugh, R.; Meiosys Consortium. (2011) Meiotic recombination in barley: approaches to analyze barley desynaptic mutants., Chromatin and Chromosomes: The New Frontiers of Science, The University of Birmingham, June 2011.
- Colas, I.; Ramsay, L.; Waugh, R.; Meiosys Consortium. (2011) Meiotic recombination in barley: approaches to analyze barley desynaptic mutants., British Meiosis Meeting, University of Sheffield, April 2011.
- Colas, I.; Ramsay, L.; Waugh, R. (2011) Control of meiotic recombination in barley., Plant and Animal Genome XIX, San Diego, California, USA, 15-19 January 2011. (Poster)
