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Bio

I am a biologist with a quantitative genetics background devoted to understand plant adaptation to the environment and how to apply this knowledge for breeding resilient crops.

I did my biology degree at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain, 2007). After a master on environmental science and technology at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Spain, 2008), I did a PhD at CIFOR-INIA (Spain, 2014) focused on the study of the molecular and functional mechanisms for drought adaptation using a forest tree, Pinus pinaster Ait. as model species.

From 2014 to 2019, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the UMR Biogeco, (INRAE Nouvelle-Aquitaine-Bordeaux) where I participated in different projects aimed to identify the genetic basis of adaptive phenotypes in forest trees.

Since 2020, I am a researcher at the UMR EGFV, (INRAE Nouvelle-Aquitaine-Bordeaux) where I focus my research on the genetics of root development and function in grapevine.

Thématiques de recherche

Among the technical innovations to overcome the current challenges experienced by viticulture, the choice of plant material, and in particular the rootstock, is essential. Although, there is some choice for the rootstock variety within the French catalog, most of the genotypes available in collections are descendants of a limited gene pool (mainly 3 different species, each one of them mainly represented by 1 accession). In this context, there is a need to develop rootstocks better adapted to the new environments and to diversify the genetic basis of deployed genetic material, with the aim to ensure viticulture sustainability. I deal with this goal through several research themes:

Genetic diversity of Wild Vitis species

In order to reintroduce genetic diversity into rootstocks, it is essential to analyze their wild plant relatives. For this purpose, I am characterizing the genetic diversity of wild American, Asian and Eurasian Vitis species. I am especially interested in the genetic variability of root phenotypes, notably in response to drought. For this purpose, I analyze the diversity of responses at transcriptomic, metabolomic and ecophysiological levels.

Genetic architecture of grapevine root phenotypes

Deciphering the genetic architecture of phenotypic variation is crucial for understanding species adaptation, to inform breeding programs and develop marker-assisted selection. Several challenges limit our knowledge on the genetic basis of complex traits, especially in species with long generation cycles, such as perennial plant species. To address these challenges my research is focused in several strategies:

- Polygenic adaptation. In perennial plant species is frequently observed that the genetic variants detected through GWAs account for only small fractions of trait heritability, as estimated through pedigree analysis. Polygenicity, i.e. trait architecture determined by a large number of variants, each with a small effect-size, is a potential reason for the low levels of heritability explained by current GWAS, which would thus be not powerful enough to detect most causal variants .  In order to improve knowledge on the genetic basis of heritability, new polygenic methods that consider a high number of SNPs simultaneously have been developed. These methods improve the ability to detect low-effect variants and consequently they can improve our understanding of complex phenotype heritability not detected by classical GWAS studies.

- QTL meta-analysis, which takes advantage of already available independent studies to gain power in the detection of associations. In addition, this strategy has been proven useful to reduce the complexity of highly polygenic traits thanks to the identification of important genes involved in different biological processes.

Genetic load impact on adaptive and productive phenotypes

Population genetics theory and experimental evolution studies showed that most of the new mutations occurring in a population are neutral or slightly deleterious. High effect deleterious mutations would be rapidly removed by the means of purifying selection. The efficacy of natural selection to remove harmful alleles can be compromised under certain situations, such as the demographic bottlenecks occurring during domestication. A reduced efficacy of purifying selection entails the accumulation of deleterious mutations (i.e. the genetic load) that can compromise productivity and resilience in crop species. Identifying, controlling and repairing these mutations in major crop species have been identified as a capital question to move to next-generation breeding. I am combining genomic information to estimate genetic load with phenotypic evaluations in common garden experiments to test the impact of genetic load on adaptive and productive traits in wild and commercial grapevines.

Publications récentes 
 

• Louis Blois, Marina de Miguel, Pierre-François Bert, Nathalie Ollat, Bernadette Rubio, Kai P Voss-Fels, Joachim Schmid, Elisa Marguerit. 2023. Dissecting the genetic architecture of root-related traits in a grafted wild Vitis berlandieri population for grapevine rootstock breeding. 
  Theoretical and Applied Genetics 136 (11). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-023-04472-1
•  Nathalie Ollat, Elisa Marguerit, Marina de Miguel, Aude Coupel-Ledru, Sarah Jane Cookson, Cornelis Van Leeuwen, Philippe Vivin, Philippe Gallusci, Vincent Segura, Eric Duchêne. 2023. Moving towards grapevine genotypes better adapted to abiotic constraints. Vitis 62. https://doi.org/10.5073/vitis.2023.62.special-issue.67-76
• Louis Blois, Marina de Miguel, Pierre‐François Bert, Nabil Girollet, Nathalie Ollat, Bernadette Rubio, Vincent Segura, Kai P Voss‐Fels, Joachim Schmid, Elisa Marguerit. 2023. Genetic structure and first genome‐wide insights into the adaptation of a wild relative of grapevine, Vitis berlandieri. Evolutionary Applications. https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.13566
• Juliette Archambeau, Simone Bianchi, Joukje Buiteveld, Marta Callejas-Díaz, Stephen Cavers, Henrik Hallingbäck, Chedly Kastally, Marina de Miguel, Sven Mutke, Leopoldo Sánchez, Richard Whittet, Santiago C González-Martínez, Catherine Bastien. 2023. Managing forest genetic resources for an uncertain future: findings and perspectives from an international conference. Tree Genetics & Genomes 19, 26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-023-01603-z
• Juliette Archambeau, Marta Benito Garzón, Marina de Miguel, Benjamin Brachi, Frédéric Barraquand, Santiago C González-Martínez. 2023. Reduced within-population quantitative genetic variation is associated with climate harshness in maritime pine. Heredity 131, 68–78 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41437-023-00622-9
• Juliette Archambeau, Marta Benito Garzón, Frédéric Barraquand, Marina de Miguel, Christophe Plomion, Santiago C González-Martínez. 2022. Combining climatic and genomic data improves range-wide tree height growth prediction in a forest tree. The American Naturalist 200 (4)  https://doi.org/10.1086/720619
•  Marina de Miguel, Isabel Rodríguez‐Quilón, Myriam Heuertz, Agathe Hurel, Delphine Grivet, Juan Pablo Jaramillo‐Correa, Giovanni G Vendramin, Christophe Plomion, Juan Majada, Ricardo Alía, Andrew J Eckert, Santiago C González‐Martínez. 2022. Molecular ecology 31 (7), 2089-2105. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16367  
• Lieven Sterck, Nuria de María, Rafael A Cañas, Marina de Miguel, Pedro Perdiguero, … 36 authors… Carmen Díaz-Sala, María Teresa Cervera. 2022. Maritime Pine Genomics in Focus. In: De La Torre, A.R. (eds) The Pine Genomes. Compendium of Plant Genomes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93390-6_5 

Voir aussi

Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=oYl-EFsAAAAJ&hl=es

Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6398-2660

Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Marina-De-Miguel