Publications by Florent François Masson

Disproportionate investment in Spiralin B production limits in-host growth and favors the vertical transmission of Spiroplasma insect endosymbionts

Bruno Lemaitre, Jean Philippe Boquete, Samuel Rommelaere, Fanny Schüpfer, Florent François Masson

Insects frequently harbor endosymbionts, which are bacteria housed within host tissues. These associations are stably maintained over evolutionary timescales through vertical transmission of endosymbionts from host mothers to their offspring. Some endosymb ...

National Academy of Sciences2022

Rapid molecular evolution of Spiroplasma symbionts of Drosophila

Bruno Lemaitre, Florent François Masson

Spiroplasma is a genus of Mollicutes whose members include plant pathogens, insect pathogens and endosymbionts of animals. Spiroplasma phenotypes have been repeatedly observed to be spontaneously lost in Drosophila cultures, and several studies have docume ...

2021

The wall-less bacterium Spiroplasma poulsonii builds a polymeric cytoskeleton composed of interacting MreB isoforms

Bruno Lemaitre, Alexandre Louis André Persat, Florent François Masson, Xavier Jean-Yves Pierrat

A rigid cell wall defines the morphology of most bacteria. MreB, a bacterial homologue of actin, plays a major role in coordinating cell wall biogenesis and defining cell shape. Spiroplasma are wall-less bacteria that robustly grow with a characteristic he ...

CELL PRESS2021

The iron transporter Transferrin 1 mediates homeostasis of the endosymbiotic relationship between Drosophila melanogaster and Spiroplasma poulsonii

Bruno Lemaitre, Florent François Masson, Alice Marra

Iron is involved in numerous biological processes in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes and is therefore subject to a tug-of-war between host and microbes upon pathogenic infections. In the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, the iron transporter Transferrin 1 ...

Oxford University Press (OUP)2021

A secreted factor NimrodB4 promotes the elimination of apoptotic corpses by phagocytes in Drosophila

Bruno Lemaitre, Samuel Rommelaere, Florent François Masson, Elodie Julie Virginie Ramond, Bianca Marie Petrignani

Programmed cell death plays a fundamental role in development and tissue homeostasis. Professional and non-professional phagocytes achieve the proper recognition, uptake, and degradation of apoptotic cells, a process called efferocytosis. Failure in effero ...

2021

Dual proteomics of Drosophila melanogaster hemolymph infected with the heritable endosymbiont Spiroplasma poulsonii

Bruno Lemaitre, Samuel Rommelaere, Fanny Schüpfer, Florent François Masson, Alice Marra

Insects are frequently infected with heritable bacterial endosymbionts. Endosymbionts have a dramatic impact on their host physiology and evolution. Their tissue distribution is variable with some species being housed intracellularly, some extracellularly ...

2021

Blind killing of both male and female Drosophila embryos by a natural variant of the endosymbiotic bacterium Spiroplasma poulsonii

Bruno Lemaitre, Samuel Rommelaere, Florent François Masson, Juan Camilo Paredes Escobar, Mario Gonzalo Garcia Arraez

Spiroplasma poulsonii is a vertically transmitted endosymbiont of Drosophila melanogaster that causes male-killing, that is the death of infected male embryos during embryogenesis. Here, we report a natural variant of S. poulsonii that is efficiently verti ...

WILEY2020

Transformation of the Drosophila Sex-Manipulative Endosymbiont Spiroplasma poulsonii and Persisting Hurdles for Functional Genetic Studies

Bruno Lemaitre, Chloé Christiane Laurence Jollivet, Florent François Masson

Insects are frequently infected by bacterial symbionts that greatly affect their physiology and ecology. Most of these endosymbionts are, however, barely tractable outside their native host, rendering functional genetics studies difficult or impossible. Sp ...

AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY2020

Growing Ungrowable Bacteria: Overview and Perspectives on Insect Symbiont Culturability

Bruno Lemaitre, Florent François Masson

Insects are often involved in endosymbiosis, that is, the housing of symbiotic microbes within their tissues or within their cells. Endosymbionts are a major driving force in insects' evolution, because they dramatically affect their host physiology and al ...

AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY2020

Functional analysis of RIP toxins from the Drosophila endosymbiont Spiroplasma poulsonii

Bruno Lemaitre, Florent François Masson, Juan Camilo Paredes Escobar, Mario Gonzalo Garcia Arraez

BackgroundInsects frequently live in close relationship with symbiotic bacteria that carry out beneficial functions for their host, like protection against parasites and viruses. However, in some cases, the mutualistic nature of such associations is put in ...

2019