 Introduction History and geographical location of the unit

The scientific aim of the Joint Research Unit 1287 'Ecophysiology and Grape Functional genomics' (UMR EGFV) is to predict the development of the grapevine plant, the ripening of the berries, their metabolism in response to environmental constraints and genetic background. More precisely, it aims at understanding and modeling the physiological, genetic and molecular components of the response of grapevine plant and berry composition to abiotic factors. The unit is structured in two main themes, one dealing with the rootstocks and their interactions with the scion (Theme 1: Grafted Plant), the other one related to the effect of climate and microclimate on berry development and composition (Theme 2: Fruit Quality and Environment).

UMR EGFV has been created in January 2007 by putting together different research teams from Bordeaux and Poitiers. This creation involved a major restructuration of the research potential in Bordeaux on viticulture, since it merged the following groups:

(i) 'Grapevine Ecophysiology and Agronomy': a group led by Mr Jean-Pierre GAUDILLÈRE then Mr Philippe VIVIN, formerly attached to Joint Research Unit 1219 'Oenology-Ampelology', INRA Bordeaux, EA division.

(ii) 'Rootstock Genetics': a group led by Ms Nathalie OLLAT, formerly attached to the Research Unit 419 'Fruits and Grapevine', INRA Bordeaux, BAP Division.

(iii) 'Functional Genomics and Quality of Grape Berry': a group led by Mr Saïd HAMDI, formerly attached to the Joint Research Unit 619 'Fruit Biology', UB1 (molecular and cell biologists) (iv) 'Sugars, signalling and secondary metabolites': a group led by Mr Serge DELROT, formerly attached to the Joint Research Unit 3091 'Assimilate Transport', University of Poitiers, transferred to the University of Bordeaux 2 (molecular and cell physiologists).

In addition to this association of different skills, the unit gathered people from different institutions: two INRA divisions 'Environment and Agronomy' (EA) and Plant Biology and Breeding (BAP), two Universities (Bordeaux 1 & Bordeaux 2, that merged as the University of Bordeaux in January 2014), and the National Agricultural Engineering School of Bordeaux (ENITA, called Bordeaux Sciences Agro, BSA, since January 2011).

In January 2009, the whole EGFV unit has been located at the INRA Grande Ferrade campus in Villenave d'Ornon, but in four different buildings. EGFV was part of the Institut des Sciences de la Vigne et du Vin Bordeaux-Aquitaine (ISVV), a cluster of structures dedicated to basic and translational research, and teaching in the area of grape and wine. In January 2014, ISVV became an autonomous institute within the University of Bordeaux, and a new building gathering all the EGFV staff was created.

Presently, all EGFV staff is located into this new building (1115 m 2 ) in which the in vitro culture facilities and the growth cabinets for grapevine plantlets have been transferred. EGFV runs for its own use 2000 m 2 of greenhouses and associated equipment, among which 290 m 2 are shared with another laboratory (UMR ISPA). In addition, they will have access soon to 150 m 2 of a new S2-rated greenhouse. The laboratory also set up a platform equipped with 150 balances in a greenhouse in order to impose the same level of water stress to a wide range of plants, and uses 2 controlled growth chambers. In addition, several plots dedicated to long term research programmes have been planted or will be planted in 2015.

Within ISVV, EGFV develops collaborations with other Joint Research units, particularly 'Oenology', 'Plant Health' (SAVE), and the 'Polyphenols and health' (GESVAB) laboratories. EGFV also interacts with several laboratories belonging to the SFR 'Integrative Biology and Ecology' (BIE, a federative structure, called IFR 103 'Integrative Plant Biology' until January 2011), and most regularly with the Joint Research Unit of 'Fruit Biology'. The ISVV is an active part of the 'Green Campus' of the Bordeaux University which gathers, mainly on the INRA campus, all the laboratories involved in plant research. It is also member of the COTE Labex which gathers scientists working in biology, physics, chemistry, and socio-economical sciences.

Management team

EGFV is directed by Pr Serge DELROT, assited by a direction board (CoDir). The board is presently composed of Mr Philippe VIVIN (INRA scientist, deputy director), Mr Eric GOMÈS (Pr UB, in charge of theme 2, deputy director), Ms Nathalie OLLAT (research engineer, in charge of theme 1), Ms Ghislaine HILBERT (engineer, representative of ITA), and Ms Catherine CHABIRAND and Ms Catherine THIOULOUSE (secretaries). The CoDir meets about twice a month. Since 2014, a report is written and e-mailed to all the EGFV staff. This CoDir assists the director in the decision process (science, finance, management,…) and in some of the administrative work.

A scientific council (15 members, part elected, part nominated by the director) meets about 4 times per year. These meetings, which are open to all the staff, give general information, as well as short scientific progress reports for the two scientific themes. Scientific, financial and organizational issues are also discussed. A report is then dispatched by e-mail and on the intranet of EGFV.

Laboratory internal meetings are organized twice a month for each theme. The scientists in charge of the research themes, are also invited to attend the meetings of the other theme to ensure coordination and interactions. Meetings of the staff involved in the technical platforms are also organized whenever needed. Important and strategic issues (such as the present EGFV project) are discussed at the CoDir but also in dedicated assemblies of permanent scientists.

Internal presentations and seminars are organized twice a month, in addition to talks and seminars given by outside scientists in the laboratory, in the ISVV and at SFR BIE. 2  Overall assessment of the unit Global assessment of the unit EGFV had a positive evolution since the previous AERES evaluation in 2009. The academic production is in progress, with a significant increase of impact factors of the journals in which papers have been published.

HCERES nomenclature

The unit has also improved its international visibility by organising international conferences. New models and phenotypic tools have been developped which provide interesting perspectives for the unit. EGFV has access to platforms for molecular studies, an experimental unit, S2 greenhouses in their close environment, especially in UMR BFP.

The unit is organised into two thematic axes, which were already proposed in 2009. This organisation has been reinforced and an equilibrium between the two axes has been obtained, in terms of persons and contracts.

The announced arrival of a novel group in January 2016 is a very necessary development in EGFV. It will allow new scientific results in epigenetics on the adaptation on grapevine grown in abiotic stress conditions.

Recommendations / perspectives:

Despite the existence of some joint projects, the links between the two themes still need to be reinforced.The organisation in the two axes was very helpful in the merging of the former institutes and the creation of EGVF. But, crosscutting works and initiatives should be supported and sponsored for the optimisation of EGVF's future development. This was already pointed out by the previous evaluation committee and still requires specific efforts from the direction.

A key point concerns the EGFV budget which amounts to 530 k€ per year. Even though correct, this budget could be one of the reasons that limit the possibility to have Post docs positions in the unit. After several unsuccessful applications, the unit has experienced a decrease in funding sources during 2014. New applications have already been submitted in order to renew the contracts and budget available for the unit. The committee encourages the unit to amplify this effort and to dedicate part of the acquired budget to recruit post-docs.

Since the epigenetics domain is and will be very competitive, the absence of dedicated budget could be a main limitation to start this new activity in the unit. The committee supports the director in his decision to mutualise some funding to help launching activities on epigenetic in grapevine. However, the committe underlines the necessity to carefully prepare the positioning of the persons within EGFV. The choice to distribute the epigenetic activities into the two themes could be risky and maybe not the best solution considering the number of people involved. Defining a priority between the different topics could facilitate the integration of the scientists and their necessary investment on grapevine.

Strengths and opportunities in relation to the context

The grafted plant certainly constitutes an excellent and original biological system, in which the unit could acquire an international leadership. Presently however slightly more scientific papers stem from theme 2 (berry quality).

One of the main strengths of EGFV is the large number of infrastructures, scientific equipments and facilities available, that make this unit attractive to external researches (e.g. the new research group led by Mr Philippe GALLUSCI).

Bordeaux and ISVV context are local contexts in which the EGFV research is fully meaningful. The unit benefits from a strong local and regional support where numerous socio-professional relationships exist.

The academic production has been improved and reaches a very good level.

The arrival of a new group for developing epigenetic studies is a good opportunity for EGFV.

Weaknesses and threats related to the context

Even though all EGFV researchers study a single biological model, the grapevine, there is a threat of dispersion within each research theme and a lack of mutualisation between themes. This is particularly true for the modelling approaches which are numerous and would certainly benefit to be inter-connected.

Since EGVF is a relatively new research Unit (created in 2007), the increase of academic production may be considered as a natural consequence of the institute's consolidation.

A main weakness and threat for the unit is its limited number of post-docs. Even though this situation maybe due to a limited budget dedicated to such recruitments from projects, the increase in the unit international visibility should also allow an increase in the number of post-doc positions and international fellowships.

The constant increase in dataset generated by the unit in phenotypic, genetic and genomic studies requires to develop a strategy to reinforce BioInformatic analyses.

A lack of connections between units within ISVV could limit the capability of the unit to increase its international visibility

Recommendations

The committee appreciates the positive dynamics of the unit which has improved its scientific publication record, in quantity and quality, and its international visibility. The theme dealing with berry quality has yet provided the best scientific outputs and should be continued. Also, the grafted plant project certainly constitutes an excellent and original biological system, in which the unit could acquire an international leadership. However, and as pointed out in 2009 by the previous evaluation committee, the committee suggests to define a restricted number of topics in order to gain true international leadership. This would allow the unit to develop a leading position on a limited number of topics. Considering that 16 scientists are equally split between the two research themes, too many research lines are carried out to allow a leading position at national and international levels with such limited human resources.This priorisation is necessary within each Theme. In Theme 1, the committee suggests to clarify the links between experimentations on biomass allocation and responses to drought on the one hand, and between modelling approaches on the other hand. However, the complementary between the two themes should also be stimulated. This may be done through the co-supervision of PhD students and/or the co-construction of research projects for joint funding applications. Organising scientific groups in relation to abiotic stresses (water stress vs nitrogen deprivation) rather than to plant organs (root/scion vs fruit) could also be considered.

In this context, the opening of new themes such as the response to biotic stress does not appear to be a priority, despite its scientific interest. Rather, reinforcing collaborations with other units present in the proximity, in particular SAVE, could certainly benefit to EGFV and to the research on grapevine in Bordeaux.

The committee encourages the unit to continue increasing the quality of the scientific papers. The quality of the research in EGFV allows the unit to ambition some publications in journals of outstanding IF in the coming years. The committee also encourages the unit to promote the publication of already available datasets. The recruitment of experienced post-doc fellows is likely to help the researchers in this perspective.

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The committee supports the Director in his wish to develop BioInformatics skills within the unit. The Centre for BioInformatics in Bordeaux (CGFB) connected to the Labri unit, constitutes an excellent context to face the Big Data era, and the committee encourages the unit to continue developping collaborations in this context.

 Detailed assessments Assessment of scientific quality and outputs

The originality of EGFV stands in the two themes studied which altogether cover most aspects of grapevine vegetative and reproductive life. In theme 1, the biological object under study, the grafted plant and the explicitation of the relationship between scion and rootstock consitute two scientific topics of high originality. The goal of Theme 2 is to analyze and model the responses of berry composition to physical environment factors and nutrient flow in order to gain more physiological knowledge about the mechanisms involved in berry quality and their regulation by abiotic factors. It aims at providing answers and advice in response to major challenges for viticulture.

During the period, the major progress concerned methodological developments, the development of new experimental materials, the introduction of high-throughput phenotyping for root studies and berry metabolism (rhizotrons, in vitro berry culture system), the high-throughput enzymatic analysis, the set-up of fluxomic approaches, and the implementation of new molecular and functional approaches (GoldenBraid, VIGS-Virus-induced gene silencing …).

Significant results have been obtained in genetics, transcriptomics and metabolic analyses and in QTL detection for a range of traits of interest. Genomic regions or genes that may be useful for breeding programmes have been identified and characterised for sex determinism and downy mildew resistance, tolerance to water stress, and lime-induced chlorosis. Genes involved in the control of berry growth (VvCEB1), in ABA signalling (VvABF2) and responsible for the last step of methoxypyrazine synthesis (VvOMT3) have been identified. Also the development of modelling approaches at various scales (phenology, distribution of nutrients between the rootstock and the scion, berry microenvironment and metabolism) is making significant progress, even though still too dispersed.

The scientific output of EGFV has been improved during the last contract, with respect to the number of scientific articles produced and the mean 5-Year impact factor. Over the period, 93 original papers (16.7/yr) have been published in 42 international peer-reviewed journals (with IF), among which 29 journals have an impact factor above 3.0 in the 'Journal Citation report 2013'. This yields a mean publication rate of 1.25 papers /full-time scientist per year. We noticed several journals of high quality (3 Plant Physiology, 2 New Phytologist, 13 J. Exp. Bot, 3 Theor. App. Gen.).

Short appreciation on this criterion

Depending on the Theme, the scientific quality and output of EGFV unit ranged between very good to excellent.

Assessment of the unit's academic reputation and appeal

EGFV is a French leading group for studying the interactions of grapevine with the environment, in the context of climate change, as demonstrated by their coordination role in the INRA meta-programme LACCAVE (Impacts et adaptations à long terme de la filière viti-vinicole au changement climatique). EGFV has strong and regular interactions and collaborations with many laboratories in France (in particular with the INRA research groups in Montpellier, Versailles, Colmar, Angers and with CNRS in Rennes).

The unit plays a major role at the international level through the coordination of a WP in the KBBE Innovine project, on the adaptation of grapevine to climate change, and through the coordination of COST 858 on viticulture. EGFV members are frequently invited for opening lectures, plenary lectures, keynote addresses or invited talks in many meetings all over the world (USA, Bolivia, Chile, China, South Africa, Germany, Italy …). During the present contract, they have organized several important international meetings, and will organize the next ISHS (International Society for Horticultural Science) International Conference on Grapevine Breeding and Genetics (2018).

EGFV members participate to several journals as Editor (Journal International Des Sciences de la Vigne et du Vin), Associate Editor (Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research, Plant Molecular Biology Reporter, Horticultural Science), Member of the Editorial Board (Journal of Experimental Botany), or Reviewers.

The main international scientific collaborations are with Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal (Innovine project). The unit seems attractive as a total of five foreign visiting scientists are recroded for stays exceeding 6 months each and also several PhD students and one Agreenskills post-doc. In this respect they also co-directed several theses, especially with Germany. The members of the unit, from both themes, also participated to a large number of international conferences. The invitations as speakers in national and international conferences (scientific or professional) are impressive.

Short appreciation on this criterion

The unit has an excellent reputation that could be improved by acquiring a leading position in international project applications. Assessment of the unit's interaction with the social, economic and cultural environment EGFV interacts with the grape industry through regular meetings at the national (IFV, Institut Français du Vin) and local (CIVB, Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux) levels. The unit has applied goals and strong connections with professional partners. One of these applied goals is to breed new rootstocks for the XXI st century that should combine the ability to control phylloxera and Grapevine Fan Leaf Virus (GFLV) contamination, with improved adaptation to the new environmental conditions expected from the climate change. For rootstocks, drought tolerance will be the most important trait.

As EGFV participates in a programme aiming at genetic improvement of rootstocks, members are regularly invited to deliver talks to professional representatives of viticulture and wine industry, and are often interviewed by different media (newspapers, radio, TV) concerning the issue of climate change and its effect on viticulture, and their activities at ISVV in general.

EGFV members gave several lectures in many grower association meetings all over France. They have released articles in specialised press for growers and wine makers. They actively contribute to several training sessions for growers and extension services. A workshop about rootstocks for nurseries and growers was organized by EGFV in April 2013 in collaboration with the extension service of ISVV.

EGFV members also participated to articles dedicated to a non-scientific audience, to several boards and committees mixing academic scientists and professionals from the grape and wine industry, such as Permanent Technical Committee for Crop Selection (CTPS), and Scientific and Technical Committee of the Grape and Wine industry (CST Vigne). Several EGFV researchers participate to press release, interviews, radio or TV broadcasts. They also published a position letter in PNAS on climate change on grapevine.

Short appreciation on this criterion

The unit interaction with the social, economic and cultural environment is excellent since extensive contacts exist with the wine industry. The unit is very well integrated in this environment and UB is a perfect place for developing the type of research developped at EGFV.

Assessment of the unit's organisation and life

The director is assisted by a direction board (CoDir, composed of 6 persons) in the decision making process for science, finance, management and in some of the administrative work. Since 2014, a report is written and e-mailed to all EGFV staff. A scientific council (15 members, part elected, part nominated by the director) meets about 4 times a year for giving general information, short scientific progress reports, and discussing the scientific, financial and organizational issues of the unit. A report is dispatched by e-mail and on the intranet of EGFV.

Internal meetings are organized twice per month for each research theme. The scientists in charge of the research themes, are invited to attend the meetings of the other theme to ensure coordination and interactions. Meetings for the staff involved in the technical platforms are also organized whenever needed.

Internal presentations and seminars are organized twice a month, in addition to talks and seminars given by outside scientists in the laboratory, in the ISVV and at SFR BIE. A website (http://www6.bordeauxaquitaine.inra.fr/egfv) allows external communication as well as sharing of internal resources via intranet (publications in pdf, seminar presentations, protocols, meeting reports, guidelines for health & safety).

Transversal collective tasks have been assigned to many staff members and engagment letters have been written for all of them, as for the deputy directors and the theme coordinators (Appendix 2).

Reports concerning Health & Safety, and Quality Assessment in EGFV have been written in 2013 (in French) by the colleagues in charge, and are available on the intranet. An audit on Quality Assessment was made at the end of 2012. Efforts for developping tools for quality assessment are under progress. The committee noticed some difficulties in the reporting for Health and Safety with UB and support the efforts of the unit to improve the situation. Specific procedures have been set up to welcome visitors, which are all under the direct supervision of a staff member. A brochure for health & safety rules at work is dispatched to incoming permament and non-permanent staff and available on the intranet.

Training efforts have concerned scientific, technical and administrative aspects, and are based on the offer of the INRA center's "permanent training". Most needs are answered and more specific needs have been addressed by universities, other labs or private companies. However, the reinforcement of transversal life between common pools and a mutualisation of part of the budget could help set up a more global plan, in particular for the planification of travels abroad for PhD and young scientists.

Short appreciation on this criterion

The unit's organisation is very good.

Assessment of the unit's involvement in training through research

EGFV includes 9 professors and assistant professors who are involved, as well as several INRA staff, in Biology, Plant Biology and Oenology teaching for the University of Bordeaux, and Bordeaux Sciences Agro. EGFV members are involved in 14 different courses at the Bachelor level, and in 20 different courses at the master level. Teaching activities include both lectures, practical sessions, and cover a wide range of domains (Plant Biology, Plant Physiology, Genetics, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Agronomy, Ecophysiology, Modelling). Several members are responsible for specific courses outside Bordeaux (e.g. EuroMaster Vinifera in SupAgro Montpellier).

In 2014, one Professor from EGFV set up a new master of Business and Science in Vineyard and Winery Management (in English). Three assistant Professors are in charge of a section in Master Vinifera at SupAgro Montpellier, and of a section of Master Vigne et Vin in Bordeaux.

During the last contract 3 EGFV members obtained their HDR, and the total number of HDRs is now 6.

19 PhDs have been hosted during the period, among which 12 theses were defended from January 2009 to June 2014. PhD production ranges from 1 to 5 scientific papers (2.4 peer-reviewed papers on average) All PhD graduates continued in scientific research, mainly abroad (Germany, USA, New Zealand). In addition, during the period, 13 visiting PhD students have been hosted for a short-term period. One PhD received the award of the best thesis from the French Society of Horticulture. 20 Master2, 28 Master1 and about 45 miscellaneous undergraduate students have been trained by research. A steady increase in EGFV's drawing powerfor University Master students is observed. All M2 students successfully passed the selection of the doctoral school (Life and Health Sciences) from the University of Bordeaux.

EGFV members also participated in 30 PhD and Habilitation committees, including 5 outside France.

The involvement in the doctoral school (ED 154) is excellent. The committee encourages the head and the unit members to improve the student involvement in "monitorat and ATER" positions, when possible, as well as the involvement of researchers in teaching.

Short appreciation on this criterion

The unit's involvement in teaching through research is very good.

Assessment of the strategy and the five-year plan

The goal of the project for the next five years is to amplify the progress in the scientific domains and experimental approaches that are already under development at EGFV, i.e. on (a) rootstock physiology and adaptation to water stress, (b) modelling at different scales (climate, phenology, interorgan distribution of dry matter, metabolomics and fluxomics, (c) molecular basis of fruit ripening and adaptation to stress. While maintaining a balance between the two themes, the unit ambitions to improve the interactions between them, through the elaboration of joint projects. This project is thus consistent from a scientific point of view since it extends the present research directions with a re-inforcement of links between the two themes.

The unit also aims at maintaining its interdisciplinary approaches, coupling eco-physiology, genetics and genomics. New topics will be opened with a new group joining EGFV for studing the epigenetic regulation of adaptation to changing climatie conditions.

The collaborations already existing should allow the unit to reach their objectives in further developing a combined model of sugar and anthocyanin fluxes in berries, and articulating it with the functions of the root and the whole plant canopy. Also, the recent obtention of a S2 greenhouse and progress made in VIGS will facilitate studying the function of major candidate genes.

Presently, the project of EGFV is built mostly on a number of ANR or European projects to which they participate (INNOVINE, DURAVITIS, EPIWINE) or that they lead or have led in the past (VITAROMA). The project is in direct continuation of what has been done in the present contract, especially concerning the aspects related to the physiology of the plant and its response to environmental constraints. Novel aspects concern epigenetics with the arrival of a small group coming from BFP and having experience in this domain. This group essentially proposes to translate their technical and scientific competence from tomato to the grape model. Another innovative research concerns the development of the graft interface. Even though it may be risky, this research topic has a high potential value. A third novel aspect will concern the identification and characterization of key molecular players involved in berry quality buildup. A number of potential targets have already been selected including transcription factors, cyclases and reductases linked to secondary metabolism. Of particular interest is a section related to the study of volatile thiol precursors which might become an important field of research in the future.

The major risk for EGFV unit in the near future is a possible effort dilution if many research lines are maintained without links. This is particularly true for Theme 1 in which 4 future directions are proposed with many overlaps. Since an evolution was noticed between the report and the oral presentations, the commmitte suggests an additional effort of the unit for outlining the project. This could help the unit to reconsider some points of the defined strategy, in particular the overall organisation of the unit in two themes which may be not presently the most efficient for joining the efforts on environmental conditions effects on the grafted plant development and berry quality. Also the unit could consider studying dedicated plant materials (clones, or progenies or mutants) in a mutualised way in phenotyping studies on the one hand, physiological and molecular analyses on the other hand. The committee points out that, with the development of new techniques such as genome editing technology and genetic transformation, the projected tasks could exceed the unit staff capacities. Moreover, a specific effort must be put on securing funds to insure the feasability of the project and to increase the ability of the unit to attract post-doc fellows.

Short appreciation on this criterion

The unit's strategy for the next five years is onsidered good. Some progress can be expected in the definition of priorities, in the integration of the epigenetics group and in the possiblity to elaborate a more integrated project between the two themes. Since the director plans to step down during the next contract, the new direction must be prepared. The objective of the 'Grafted Plant' theme is to analyze which mechanisms are affected by rootstocks at the root or shoot levels (e.g. biomass allocation, source-sink relationships, etc.). Thus, a dedicated research program has been carried out and high-throughput phenotyping tools have been developed. These research activities contribute to the finalised objective to select new rootstocks and to improve the use of the existing ones to maintain high quality grapes in a changing environment.

 Theme-by-theme analysis

For addressing these objectives, Theme 1 focused on three reasearch lines: i) understanding the effects of rootstocks on whole plant biomass allocation in grafted grapevines; ii) studing the rootstock effect on the water use efficiency of a grafted plant; iii) carrying out a rootstock breeding program.

The effects of rootstocks on whole plant biomass allocation in grafted grapevines have been studied analysing physiological and molecular basis of biomass allocation in grapevine in response to C/N ratio and rootstock (e.g. rootstock impacts on the transcriptome and metabolome of the scion, source-sink model of biomass allocation at the level of the grafted plant). A particularly innovative research is being carried out on the graft interface development, examining the molecular changes occurring in the days and months after grafting, analysing the development of symplastic connectivity through the use of fluorescent proteins and BIFC (Bimolecular fluorescence complementation). Moreover, the genetic determinism of rootstock effects on scion development and scion/rootstock interactions (e.g. rootstock effects on CS (Cabernet-Sauvignon) grown under different environmental conditions and scion-rootstock interactions) has been investigated on a F1 progeny and has led to the identification of QTL zones.

The rootstock effect on the water use efficiency of a grafted plant has been analysed working on rootstock control of short term responses to drought. The plant water relations have been modelled, taking into account the rootstock effect and evaluating the variability among rootstocks for chemical and hydraulic signaling). The long term adaptation responses to drought have been studied through the analysis of molecular responses in roots of various rootstocks, through the rootstock control of scion transpiration and growth and their acclimatation to edaphic water deficit. New promising materials have been prepared such aa a F2 progeny obtained by self-fertilization, new F1 progenies with diverse genetic backgrounds adapted to water stress, and RNA sequences of the most contrasted genotypes.

The rootstock breeding program aims at breeding new rootstocks for the XXI st century combining the ability to control phylloxera and fan leaf virus contamination, with improved adaptation to the new environmental conditions applying modern selection methods to roostock breeding (e.g. diversity among wild germplasm ressources, evalutation of segregating population). Even though this activity is very promising for the future of viticulture in Bordeaux and France, its progressive transfer to IFVV is considered. The committee supports this view.

The scientific production of the group is distributed in 24 + 3 papers in international peer reviewed journals with IF and without IF and 6 in book chapters. The publications range from plant biology and physiology (e.g. Plant Cell and Envir., J. of Plant Physiol.), agronomy (Agron. J.) to viticulture (Australian J. of Grape and Wine Res., Scientia Horticulturae). The IF of the journals is ranging from 6 to 1, with a mean IF of 3.5. These values can be considered high for the viticulture research community.

Short appreciation on this criterion

The scientific quality and output is very good.

Assessment of the team's academic reputation and appeal

This group is implicated in different public (national and european programme) and private projects. More specifically, the activity on the effects of rootstocks on plant biomass allocation is mainly supported by grants from the INRA department GAP, Bordeaux University, the SFR 'Biologie Intégrative et Écologie', the 'Conseil Interprofessionnel des vins de Bordeaux' and the Aquitaine Region Council. The research line on rootstock effect on the water use efficiency is funded by the ANR (VITSEC project), the Aquitaine region, the Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bordeaux, the LACCAVE and AVA2C projects and is carried out with the collaboration with the Research Institute of Geisenheim (Germany) and the support of the Region of Hessen. In the period considered in this evaluation Theme 1 was involved in a total of 17 contracts on public/private fundings for a budget of around 1030 k€. Moreover, Theme 1 has applied for several national and international calls for funding (INRA, FranceAgrimer, Aquitaine Region, Arimnet, ITN Marie Curie, etc.).

Members of the team have organized several international meetings, in particular the COST 858 final meeting "What's up in viticulture?" (2009, 200 participants, 20 countries), the MacroWine "Macrovision of viticulture, wine making and markets" conference (2012, 150 participants, 16 countries), and the VIth International ISHS Conference about Phylloxera and other rootstock aspects (2013, 75 scientists, 10 countries). The proceedings book as Acta Horticulturae issue is under editing process (OLLAT and PAPURA, 2014).

Short appreciation on this criterion

The academic reputation and appeal of researchers in Theme 1 is very good.

Assessment of the team's interaction with the social, economic and cultural environment

A workshop about rootstocks for nurseries and growers was organized by EGFV in April 2013 in collaboration with the translational research office of ISVV. Several staff members have given lectures for civil society organizations about this issue.

EGFV theme 1 researchers participate in a programme of genetic improvement of rootstocks. They are often interviewed by different media (newspapers, radio, TV) concerning the issue of adaptation to climate change by the use of appropriate rootstock and scions combinations. EGFV members also participate to several boards and committees mixing academic scientists and professionals from the grape farmers, e.g. Permanent Technical Committee for Crop Selection (CTPS).

The activity on the effects of rootstocks on plant biomass allocation is as previously said supported by grants from the 'Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bordeaux' and the Aquitaine Region Council.

EGFV theme 1 researchers have given several lectures in many different grower association meetings all over France. They also participated to several articles dedicated to a non -scientific audience and actively contributed to several training sessions for growers and extension services.

Short appreciation on this criterion

The theme 1 researchers have excellent interactions with social, economic and cultural environment communities. The possibility to have well adapted rootstocks under future environmental conditions will be particularly important for worldwide viticulture.

Conclusion

 Overall opinion of the theme -successful positioning on plant tolerance to water stress; -development of innovative approaches for phenotyping segregating populations used for both root-shoot biomass allocation and response to drought; -the links between biomass allocation and water stress response should be reinforced, as well as the corresponding models; -the study of the coordination between root hydraulics and ABA signals on the one hand and the control of leaf stomatal aperture on the other hand appears a particularly interesting perspective which could benefit from the originality of the grafted plant system; -working on rootstock-scion is a very challenging topic.

 Strengths and opportunities

-the grafted plant is a unique biological system for studying root-shoot interactions; -very innovative -but risky -approach for evaluating how rootstock and scion are connected via plasmodesmata (via combining fluorescent proteins); -genetic and genomic ressources are available; -successful combination of phenotyping, genotyping and molecular studies.

 Weaknesses and threats -too many subjects are developped simultaneously and links between them do not appear clearly; -different models are developed or used in the theme, but the overall strategy of modelling is not explicit.

 Recommendations

-concentrate on a limited number of questions and gather the human ressources on these questions; -reinforce leadership by increasing the number of papers with authorship in first or last positions; -make explicit the overall strategy regarding modelling and develop links between the different models that are developed or used in the theme; -some topics could be merged with Theme 2: carbon modelling, water stress and nitrogen supply. The different permanent positions of the group will be 2 professors-UB, 1 professor-BSA, 3 associate professors-UB, 2 CR-INRA, 1 -CR CNRS, 1 IE BSA, 1AI INRA and IE INRA.

The objective of Theme 2 "Berry quality and environment" is to analyze and model the responses of berry composition to physical environment factors and nutrient flow. The idea is to gain more agronomical and physiological knowledge about the mechanisms involved in berry quality and their regulation by abiotic factors. They focus on the effect of light, temperature, water, UV-B, C02 levels, carbon and nitrogen availability. In the context of climate change,this research shoud help producing berries with optimal oenological quality in the next decades.

For this, the group developped different studies: i-Studying the impact of abiotic factors on grapevine phenology and berry metabolism, in the context of climate change, ii-Studying and modelling trophic fluxes modifications on sugar berry metabolism and iii-Identifying key molecular players for berry quality buildup.

Concerning the impact of abiotic factors on grapevine phenology and berry metabolism, with respect to climate change, the main results highlight the impact of of temperature on berry phenolic and sugar metabolism.This information is important as they show great variability of temperature sums inside the Saint-Emilion region for example. They also focus on the regulation of the transcription factor VvSFA2 and a putative galactinol synthase VvGOLS. In the context of a global climate change they also start to evaluate the impact of combinations of stress (UV-B doses, elevated temperature, CO2 levels and water stress) on berry metabolism and grape leaf physiology. The impact of rootstock/scion combination on berry quality under water deficit was also evaluated. They also established the precocity of flowering and véraison for 100 grapevine cultivars.

Concerning the second topic "Studying and modelling of trophic fluxes modification on sugar berry metabolism", they have started an integrated and comprehensive framework for sugar import and carbon metabolism in the berrry. This was done with a focus on anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway response to nitrogen supply using cell lines or with field experiments.

The last part concerns the identification of key molecular players in berry quality focusing on the genetic and molecular determinants of methoxypyrazine biosynthesis in grapes and the molecular players regulating fluxes in berry primary and secondary metabolism.

The group reported 43 + 5 articles published or in press between 2009 and 2014 in international peer reviewed journals. This scientific production is very good for the vine and wine domains. The majority of the publications is in journals with excellent reputation in the different categories. Most publications are in plant sciences, they publish also in agronomy, horticulture and ecology journals (for example: Journal of Exprimental Botany, Plant Physiology Ecological Modelling, Australian Journal of grape and Wine Research, Plant and cell Physiology, , Plant science, Agricultural and forest Meteorology, Phytochemistry….). The mean impact factor of this output is in the 3.5 range.

The different results are original and important concerning the impact of climate change on the production of berries with optimal oenological quality in the future. The different approaches and the proposed perspectives will allow to make progress in this field.

Short appreciation on this criterion

The scientific output of theme 2 is excellent for vine and wine research. The different results generated should be important for the understanding of the impact of climate change.

Assessment of the team's academic reputation and appeal

This theme is implicated in different national and european scientifc programs (ANR Sweetkaligrape, KBBE Innovine…). They have also developed research programs with "Wine and Vine Interprofessionet" (Vitadapt, Climviti, Newvine…) and different private companies (project Qualibaie, PhD thesis). The team is also involved in a Idex program of the Université de Bordeaux. Members of the team organized and carried out international congresses (Macrowine 2012 and Cost 858 Viticulture). The main international scientific collaborations are with the University of Geisenheim (Germany), University of Lincoln (New-zeland), University of Pampelona (Spain), Catholic University of Santiago de Chile (Chili), Université of Braga (Portugal), Oregon University (USA). The theme seems attractive as a total of 5 five foreign visiting scientists have stayed for over 6 months each and also different post-doc and PhD students. In this respect theme members have co-directed several theses . Members of the theme are involved in scientific journal editing (Editor in chef of JISVV, IF:1.022 and Associate Editor for Frontier in Plant Science, IF:3,6). The invitations as speakers in national and international conferences (scientific or professional) are impressive.

In the contract one professor was promoted PR1, and several AI were promoted IE.

The absence of partners could be negative but the perspectives of the theme should favor the development of new international connections in the future.

Short appreciation on this criterion

Theme 2 has an excellent reputation in their field. Their recognition in France and also worlwide is very good.

Assessment of the team's interaction with the social, economic and cultural environment

This part is very good. They have very important links with professional vinegrowers because it will be essential to find solutions to minimize the effect of climate change on grapevine.

Assessment of the team's involement in training through research

Theme 2 is composed of researchers and university members. All permanent staff members are involved in teaching. Nevertheless, they have trained different post-dostorals researchers and 15 PhD students (10 foreigners). We have to underline that all PhD students have published (first authors). Some of them are now researcher or MCF in the team or post doc (ie: Max Plant Institut). This activity can be considered very good.

Assessment of the strategy and the five-year plan

The research project on theme 2 is a direct continuation of the work that has been done in the present contract. It deals with aromas and berry quality in the frame of climate change and environmental stress response. The tasks will be focused on three main actions:

characterization of three LBD proteins related to anthocyanin biosynthesis; -characterization of candidate "genes" for the biosynthesis of methoxypyrazine;

deciphering volatile thiol precursors in grape.

All those projects are quite focused and they avoided the risk of scattering into too many research axes. The characterization of new sulfur compounds is a promising avenue of research and should be encouraged.

Conclusion

 Overall opinion of the theme berry quality is an essential topic for wine making;

the effect of abiotic stress needs to be evaluated for maintaining berry quality in the future.

 Strengths and opportunities

in this theme, genetics, physiology and molecular biology are combined to investigate the ripening of berries and their phenolic content; -a list of candidate genes of interest, including a series of transcription factors, has been identified which should lead to relevant and outstanding results; -including epigenetics in theses studies may become very useful;

the maturity of the theme leader is evident from the excellent oral presentations he did;

the group has an excellent international recognition and network;

the group contributes to many international and INRA programs.

 Weaknesses and threats ANR funding may become more difficult to obtain as for the other French labs. The group should try to diversify sources of funding and to get more grants from the wine industry. The evaluation of EGFV unit was held at the Institut des Sciences de la Vigne et du Vin de Bordeaux (ISVV).During the morning, The Director of the unit, Mr Serge DELROT, presented the historical evolution of the unit and its organisation and context at local, national and international levels. Then, the main results and perspectives of two research themes which structure the unit, were presented by Ms Nathalie OLLAT and Mr Eric GOMES, respectively. Each presentation was followed by discussions between the committee and the unit members. In the early afternoon, the committee has met the institutions which have clarified their analyses and expectations regarding the EGFV unit. Several meetings were organised with different colleges of colleagues from the unit, technicians, post-doctorants and CDD, PhD students. The last meeting was dedicated to the two themes, with their respective leaders, and with the director of the unit. The comittee members have largely debated, in presence of HCERES delegate to elaborate the report. We thank very much the members of the HCERES panel for their time, and for insightful and useful comments.

Our answer is divided in 2 parts, the points on which we agree, those on which we disagree.

I.

Points on which we agree.

While other items were ranked very good or excellent, the future organization and project was considered good, and was therefore the less strong point of the evaluation. The panel indicates that too many topics are addressed by EGFV, which was already pointed out by the former AERES panel in 2010. The panel also suggests that the present organization in two themes based on plant structure which was justified a few years ago, may not be optimal for integrative approaches. The panel clearly states that further efforts should be made to focus on a smaller number of questions, that would help in progressing one step higher in international leadership, and to foster integrative projects.

Organization and integration of UMR, interactions with other laboratories

The comments on the lack of integrated research may be due in part to some errors from our side and/or some misunderstandings:

• we did not present a slide showing the interactions and continuity between the two themes; 5 topics are listed for theme 1 in the written document, but the presentation showed that they are interconnected into 3 main questions; the committee writes that theme 2 develops 4 topics, while it is clearly stated throughout our written report that 3 topics are developed by theme 2). • experimental systems that would allow us to study integrative responses at the plant level would be essentially destructive (if we want to monitor the root system) and therefore useless if we want to study the time courses on the canopy and fruits. Also, the rootstock/scion combinations optimal (or suitable) to address issues related to root physiology and berry quality are not always identical. • we appreciate that the arrival of the group of P. Gallusci on epigenetics is encouraged.

Concerning its positioning in the laboratory, and considering the HCERES comments, we have rediscussed this issue, and finally decided that this group will merge with theme 1 on the grafted plant. This will avoid the splitting of this small group in two parts, reinforce theme 1 with 1 Professor, 2 HDR, and University staff, thus improving the internal INRA/non-INRA balance of staff in this theme. Small funded projects are already going between P. Gallusci and theme 2, so that the interactions are already efficient. Immerging 1 2/2 this group in theme 1 will allow them to interact more with theme 1 and should contribute to integrated actions, as for example the epigenetic response of the plant to water stress or nitrogen status. • While the organization in two themes may not be optimal for the future, it has allowed us to consolidate national and international recognition, as well as to improve our publication activity, and to be attractive, as acknowledged by the committee. Nonetheless, we also feel that we still have a margin to improve the organization and the integration of the laboratory.

In the next months, further incentives for integrated discussions and projects will be set and in-depth brainstorming will be organized in order to define a shared conceptual framework, and eventually re-organize our structure around a limited range of integrated goals at the whole plant level. However, care should be taken that this transition does not stop the positive dynamic that we have succeeded to impulse. This change requires some time, thinking, negotiation and incentive.The recent arrival of Junqi Zhu (Innovine post-doc) already initiated discussions on integrated modelling of plant function. Additional shared tools and experimental plots are being set up, and the arrival of Gregory Gambetta and Philippe Gallusci brings new perspectives in terms of integrated research.

Too many topics addressed.

The risk of dispersion is real, as in many laboratories, and will be given even more attention. It is partiallly due to the personal history and positioning of the staff members, and to funding for which a delicate balance of success must be reached between projects consolidating our direct line of research and more innovative projects directly in the scope of call for proposals.

Not enough post-docs.

We agree that the efficiency of the unit would be improved by hiring more post-docs. But postdoc positions are more expensive than Ph.D. and funding possibilities are quite limited and/or require cofunding (ANR, EU, Region, INRA). Our applications have met relatively little success for a wide range of reasons (see point 4). But we presently host 2 chinese post-docs and 3 foreign scientists on sabbatical leave (from Chile, China, USA), in addition to 4 foreign Ph.D. students (2 from China, 1 from Italy, 1 from Chile). We hosted for 18 months the only Agreenskill post-doc (from Spain) allowed for the BAP INRA division in 2012.

Leadership in projects.

In the past years, several of us have invested a significant part of their time in collective efforts which were demanding in terms of organization and communication (COST 858, ISVV, LACCAVE, BAG Alliance) and were very successful in terms of networking. However, they brought little tangible benefit in terms of money or positions. In the future, we will pay more attention to projects that will be more directly beneficial to EGFV in terms of post-docs and funding.

We have led the VISEC ANR project. An integrated project at the whole plant level (VINTAGES, coord. P. Vivin) has been submitted twice at the ANR and was well evaluated but not selected in the final list. This was also the case for several other projects submitted to ANR (GRAPESKIN, coord E. Gomès; EPIWINE, coord P. Gallusci…), and may explain why we do not hire many post-docs. Concerning EU projects, Vineroot.net (coord N. Ollat) is presently submitted and under evaluation. Working on a perennial complex system is not always competitive with projects based on short-cycling, easy transformed plants. Cutting-edge and risky projects are difficult to be pursued in the long term (e.g.: CELL-TALK (BAP Starter 2014), Viti-tools (BAP Starter 2015).

We also think that we have the scientific background needed to coordinate an EU proposal. However, such proposal requires both efficient lobbying at EU level, and enough administrative staff to help in the preparation. Up until May 2014, we only had one secretary to run all the administration in the 2 unit, which was detrimental for scientific efficiency. INRA is limited in the number of proposals it may support/promote on a given topic. Finally, many UMR members spend part of their time in teaching and organization of teaching, which leaves little time for writing big proposals when time is also needed to run the experiments and analyze the data 5. Publication activity We agree that the laboratory has now reached a level that should be recognized in major international journals, but we had first to rise our impact factor, and some of the journals in which we publish frequently already have an IF > 5. We will try to publish some articles in journals with IF in the 10 range (Plant Cell or similar) during the next contract for the data that fit those journals.

II. Points on which we disagree.

While part of budget was already shared to support some expenses (equipments, repairs …) based on mutual agreement, this was not yet written in the text governing the functioning of the lab. This has been done at the end of 2014, and everybody agreed that 20 % of the lab cost money of the contracts will be devoted to share expenses (with probably some difficulties and necessary adjustments in terms of financial report). We will also have to devote part of the budget to support the initial efforts of P. Gallusci, who on his side applies to several competitive resources for funding and to promote integrated projects.

We do not really understand the remark concerning the support for travel of Ph.D students and young scientists. We already develop an active policy for sending staff, and in priority Ph.D. students abroad for short periods, especially through COST actions, bi-lateral exchanges, or with our own budget : Noé Cochetel, Virginie Lauvergeat - Santiago de Chile (Ecos-Sud) ; Anthony Peccoux, Mariam Berdeja  Geisenheim, Germany (Aquitaine Region); Eric Soubeyrand  ASBP meeting 2013 (USA); J. Martinez-Lüscher  COST FA 0906 meeting (Czeck Republic) Aude Habran  Verona, Italy (COST FA 1106) ; Pierre Helwi  Lincoln (NZ); Roberta Triolo  Sicily; Claudine Trossat, Sabine Guillaumie ---> Lincoln (NZ) ; David Lecourieux  Valencia, Spain ; COST FA 1106) ; …) Again, we thank the committee for pinpointing the areas where we can still improve, and it will be the challenge for the Director, the Direction Committee and all members of the Unit to improve even more our past achievements in the future.

Serge Delrot, Directeur UMR 1287 EGFV

FTE

  permanent staff without research duties (IR, IE, PRAG, etc.) 3 FTE for other professors (PREM, ECC, etc.) FTE for postdoctoral students having spent at least 12 months in the team FTE for other researchers (DREM, etc.) excluding postdoctoral students 2

-

  Recommendations cooperation between theme 1 and 2 researchers should be further encouraged;the cooperation with neighboring groups in Bordeaux on wine pathogens (viruses, fungi) should be increased;-RNA seq could help identifying key molecular players for veraison and berry development and ripening;maintaining a strong cooperation with the Metabolomics platform in Biologie du fruit et Pathologie Bordeaux unit is essential to this program.

  -door): visiting committee with the HCERES scientific delegate 8:45 HCERES representative: the role and procedures of HCERES (Mr Philippe MEROT) 9:00 Director of the unit: presentation of the past activities and project

  20

Unit workforce Number as at 30/06/2014 Number as at 01/01/2016

  Principal domain: SVE2_LS9 Sciences et technologies du vivant, BiotechnologieSecondary domains: SVE1_LS2 Génétique, Génomique, Bioinformatique, Biologie des systèmes; SVE2_LS3 Biologie cellulaire, Biologie du développement Végétal

	Doctoral students	6
	Theses defended	13
	Postdoctoral students having spent at least 12 months in the unit	1
	Number of Research Supervisor Qualifications (HDR) taken	3
	Qualified research supervisors (with an HDR) or similar positions	5	5
	Unit workforce
	Unit workforce	Number as at 30/06/2014	Number as at 01/01/2016
	N1: Permanent professors and similar positions	11	12
	N2: Permanent researchers from Institutions and similar positions	5	5
	N3: Other permanent staff (without research duties)	20	20
	N4: Other professors (Emeritus Professor, on-contract Professor, etc.)	1
	N5: Other researchers from Institutions (Emeritus Research Director, Postdoctoral students, visitors, etc.)	1
	N6: Other contractual staff (without research duties)	2
	TOTAL N1 to N6	40	37


3

Evaluation report

This report is the result of the evaluation by the experts committee, the composition of which is specified below.

The assessments contained herein are the expression of an independent and collegial deliberation of the committee.

Unit name:

Brain and Cognition Research Centre The laboratory was originally located in the Medical School at Rangueil, to the southeast of Toulouse, close to the main university campus. The future of the lab was threatened by a number of problems including a serious lack of office space, animal house facilities that were totally incompatible with the new European laws, and extremely limited access to fMRI facilities. With a major investment from the CNRS, Inserm and the Midi-Pyrénées Regional authority, the lab moved to newly renovated premises within the Purpan Hospital complex in 2011-12. It shares the Pavillon Baudot with Inserm laboratory, Unit 825 "Inserm/UPS Imagerie cérébrale et handicaps neurologiques", currently directed by Mr Pierre CELSIS.

The lab has grown almost continuously, and now has a total of 23 researchers (16 CNRS, 1 Inserm, 4 university lecturers, a hospital professor and another clinician), 8 technical support staff, and around 45 postdocs, doctoral students and support staff on short-term contracts.

Management team

The unit has a governing body comprising the director and 10 other members, 4 nominated by the director and 6 elected, which meets monthly. 2  Overall assessment of the interdisciplinary unit

HCERES nomenclature

Global assessment of the unit

CerCo is a world-class center of cognitive science, staffed by creative and productive scientists of high international visibility, producing excellent well-cited research published in good international scientific journals. Much of the research is financed by prestigious national and international grants.

The approach of the laboratory is fundamentally interdisciplinary and holistic, with expertise in almost all state-of-the-art brain recording techniques. It is rare to find such a range of techniques and approaches within the same laboratory, integrated within a common general purpose.

The laboratory is well managed, creating a pleasant and productive work atmosphere. They have exciting plans for research over the next five years, continuing their more successful lines of research, and branching into new terrain. They also intend to start a new, innovative masters program. CerCo is very likely to continue in its role as a major international player over the next five years, and beyond.

Strengths and opportunities in relation to the context

There are many obvious strengths to the unit. Some that clearly emerge are:

1. the high quality and productivity of the research scientists; 2. the international visibility of the scientists;

3. the research lines addressing important and topical issues; 4. the quantity of solid publications in good journals in the field, many of which are highly cited; 5. excellent funding from both national and international sources, including two ERCs and several other prestigious grants; 6. highly interdisciplinary and integrative approach: from cortical micro-vascularization to "mind-wandering"; 7. expertise in almost all state-of-the-art neuroscientific techniques (in humans and in animal models), including imaging (both fMRI and PET), EEG, TMS, psychophysics and computational modeling. The lab is unique in bringing together at the same location many different disciplines and expertise converging on similar scientific problems; 8. many horizontal themes running across all teams, fostering collaboration and efficient use of equipment; 9. the ability to attract new CNRS researchers (both french and international), and good graduate students; 10. the research environment is very pleasant and collaborative, as well as efficient;

  , University of Marburg, Germany Ms Jennifer COULL, University of Aix-Marseille Mr Luciano FADIGA, University of Ferrara, Italy Mr Mark GREENLEE, University of Regensburg, Germany Mr Pascal MAMASSIAN, École Normale Supérieure, Paris (representative of the CoNRS) Mr Denis VIVIEN, University of Caen (representative of the CNU) Scientific delegate representing the HCERES: Mr Jacques NOËL, DS-SVE Ms Celine SOUCHAY, DS-SHS Representatives of the unit's supervising institutions and bodies: Mr Pierre CELSIS, Université Toulouse 3 Paul Sabatier Ms Armelle BARELLI, Inserm Mr Pascal BARONE (representative of the Doctoral School n°326 CLESCO) Mr Jean-Louis VERCHER, CNRS 1  Introduction History and geographical location of the unit The Centre de Recherche Cerveau & Cognition ("Brain and Cognition Research Center", or CerCo) is a CNRS Université Toulouse 3 laboratory, created in 1993 by Mr Michel IMBERT and a core group of researchers from Paris and Marseille. Mr Jean BULLIER was the director from 1998 to 2003, followed by Ms Michèle FABRE-THORPE in 2003. Mr Simon THORPE took over as head of the laboratory in January 2014.

  There are currently four main research teams, each headed by a CNRS research director. Mr Pascal BARONE and Ms Caroline FONTA (both DR2 CNRS) currently head the Dytic 2.0 team (Processing Dynamics and Cortical Interactions), Mr Yves TROTTER (DR2 CNRS) heads the ECO-3D team (Space and 3D context), Mr Emmanuel BARBEAU (DR2 CNRS) has been leader of the PROS team (Perception and Recognition of Objects and Scenes) since January 2014, while Mr Rufin VAN RULLEN (DR2 CNRS) is the leader of CreMe (Construction of Mental States and Representations).

workforce Number as at 30/06/2014 Number as at 01/01/2016

	Unit Doctoral students	20
	Theses defended	19
	Postdoctoral students having spent at least 12 months in the unit	20
	Number of Research Supervisor Qualifications (HDR) taken	5
	Qualified research supervisors (with an HDR) or similar positions	11
	SVE, LS5, SHS4_2
	Unit workforce
	Unit workforce	Number as at 30/06/2014	Number as at 01/01/2016
	N1: Permanent professors and similar positions	6	8
	N2: Permanent researchers from Institutions and similar positions	17	16
	N3: Other permanent staff (without research duties)	11	8
	N4: Other professors (Emeritus Professor, on-contract Professor, etc.)
	N5: Other researchers (Emeritus Research Director, Postdoctoral students, visitors, etc.)	8	11
	N6: Other contractual staff (without research duties)	4	4
	TOTAL N1 to N6	46	47


Jean-Philippe Mr

Girard

Ms Anne Ridley

Ms Ines M Anton

Yves Mr

Bourne

Hervé Mr

Kovacic

Harald Mr

Schwalbe

François Mr

Trottein

This report is the result of the evaluation by the experts committee, the composition of which is specified below.

Scientific delegate representing the HCERES:

2  Overall assessment of the unit

Global assessment of the unit

The unit consists of three departments: the Cancer Biology department, consisting of 8 teams; the Structural Biology and Biophysics department, consisting of 6 teams; and the Tuberculosis and Infection Biology department, consisting of 5 teams. The unit has an executive committee composed of the director, the general secretary, and two research group leaders from each Department. It also has a scientific advisory board of 9 scientists, 3 of whom work in France and 6 in other countries (USA, UK, Netherlands). The unit is well staffed, with approximately 90 permanent researchers from CNRS, Inserm and the University of Toulouse, and 64 permanent administrative and technical staff, as well as approximately 100 non-permanent staff (graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and technicians). The unit has strong links with the University of Toulouse 3 (Paul Sabatier), hosting approximately 35 Professors and Assistant/Associate Professors. Together with 5 other CNRS units in basic molecular, cellular biology and genomics on the University of Toulouse 3 campus, it has formed the 'Fédération de Recherche en Biologie de Toulouse'.

The unit has several core facilities, including proteomics, imaging and spectroscopy, high-throughput screening platforms, a transgenic facility, and a new specialised imaging facility for visualising tuberculosis infections. The proteomics facility has recently become of one of three core facilities of the French Proteomics Infrastructure.

Strengths and opportunities in relation to the context

The unit has produced many publications in high-level journals in the last five years. The unit has an interdisciplinary research base, allowing for the development of some strong interactions between research groups within the unit, as well as collaborations with research groups from other CNRS units in Toulouse. The unit has a coherent management structure, allowing the departments and Core Facilities managers to be involved in decisionmaking processes. The staffing levels are stable, indicating that permanent staff find the working conditions good. The unit has successfully managed the promotions of several engineers and technicians as well as permanent researchers over the last five years. Financial resources are also stable, and the unit has a pooling policy for financial resources, allowing it to support purchase of communal equipment and provide valuable assistance for new teams. The Tuberculosis and Infection Biology department is particularly well funded: several groups are part of EU networks. The unit's core facilities are state-of-the-art and very well equipped. The Proteomics platform has recently become one of three nodes for the French Proteomics Infrastructure. The Integrated Screening platform is a partnership between different CNRS units in Toulouse, with this unit providing excellent biophysical equipment, including NMR spectrometers and robotic crystalisation capacity. The core facilities have contributed to multiple publications, indicating that they are well used.

Weaknesses and threats related to the context

The diverse disciplines of the research teams between departments and within departments could mean that resources are spread thinly and it is difficult to keep high levels of funding and maintain equipment for all the research interests. Funding is stable but not increasing, which could affect the ability to keep core equipment and facilities adequately maintained or updated. The loss of some core and highly experienced engineering staff over the last few years is also of concern, because they played important roles in running the unit successfully. Not all groups have an associated technician, which could limit their capacity to carry out their research programmes optimally.

Recommendations

The unit should encourage teams in the Cancer Biology department and the Structural Biology and Biophysics department to diversify their funding sources, including involvement in more EU networks and contracts with pharmaceutical companies. In addition, it would help to have senior unit research staff provide advice to teams on their grant applications, for example ensuring they focus strategically on their research strengths. Building more interactions between teams will allow joint interdisciplinary grant applications, which can be stronger than individual team applications.

As a main priority, the unit should ensure that each team has at least one engineer/technician. Existing staff may have to be re-trained if it is not possible to recruit new staff. As a second priority, the unit should recruit new teams to complement and strengthen its existing teams.

The unit website could be improved to include information for the general public on the research in the unit. The unit could also consider changing its name to reflect more accurately its current research profile, which is not focused on pharmacology anymore.

  of the unit's supervising institutions and bodies: Ms Florence NOBLE, INSB CNRS Mr Alexis VALENTIN, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse 3 Mr Philippe VALET (Director of the Doctoral School ED N°151 BHB) 1  Introduction History and geographical location of the unit The Institute of Pharmacology and Structural Biology (Institut de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale, IPBS) was created in 1996. It is a large research centre of the CNRS and University of Toulouse (University of Toulouse 3, University Paul Sabatier) on the CNRS 205 Campus, located at the heart of the University Paul Sabatier campus, close to the Rangueil hospital since 1997. The IPBS consists of three departments: the Cancer Biology department, the Structural Biology and Biophysics department, and the Tuberculosis and Infection Biology department. The Institute has several core facilities, including proteomics, imaging and spectroscopy, high-throughput screening platforms, a transgenic facility, and a new specialised imaging facility for visualising tuberculosis infections. The proteomics facility has recently become of one of three core facilities of the French Proteomics Infrastructure.

Unit workforce Unit workforce Number as at 30/06/2014 Number as at 01/01/2016 N1: Permanent professors and similar

	Management team
	Head: Mr Jean Philippe GIRARD
	HCERES nomenclature
	SVE1_LS1 Biologie moléculaire et structurale, biochimie
	SVE1_LS6 Immunologie, microbiologie, virologie, parasitologie
	SVE1_LS4 Physiologie, physiopathologie, biologie systémique médicale
	SVE1_LS3 Biologie cellulaire, biologie du développement animal
	positions	37 (18,45)	39 (19,45)
	N2: Permanent researchers from Institutions and similar positions	54 (53,7)	47 (46,9)
	N3: Other permanent staff (without research duties)	64 (56,1)	61 (57,2)
	N4: Other professors (Emeritus Professor, on-contract Professor, etc.)	3 (1,5)	2 (1)
	N5: Other researchers from Institutions (Emeritus Research Director, Postdoctoral students, visitors, etc.)	33 (33)	10 (10) *
	N6: Other contractual staff (without research duties)	32 (32)	1 (1) *
	TOTAL N1 to N6	223 (194,75)	160 (135,55)

*Figures at 01/01/2014

Unit workforce Number as at 30/06/2014 Number as at 01/01/2016

	Doctoral students	34
	Theses defended	70
	Postdoctoral students having spent at least 12 months in the unit	21
	Number of Research Supervisor Qualifications (HDR) taken	9
	Qualified research supervisors (with an HDR) or similar positions	59	53


Pierre-Emmanuel Mr

Gleizes

Michel Mr

Werner

This report is the result of the evaluation by the experts committee, the composition of which is specified below.

The assessments contained herein are the expression of an independent and collegial deliberation of the committee.

The unit is active in molecular biology, specializing in non-coding RNA biology, chromatin structure and function, ribosome biology and genome dynamics. It is located on the campus of the Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse. This city is the second university town in France with 120 000 students. A large number of laboratories provide a rich environment for interdisciplinary research. The university of Toulouse has received the Idex label. The Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Eukaryotes (LBME) was created in 1993 and occupies half of the IBCG building together with another unit. The current head of the unit was appointed in 2012 following the retirement of the previous one. He will be in charge for the next five years. In 2011, the unit included eight teams, six of which were appointed between 2004 and 2009. Two of these groups were supported by ATIP/Avenir grants. One of the teams was dissolved because of serious difficulties, including the passing away of one of its two co-PIs. Thus presently, the unit consists of seven research teams, three quarters of which are rather young.

Management team

The unit is chaired by a Director, who is a university professor. The administration comprises three persons for finance and personnel. Some researchers have technical responsibilities for specific apparatus or services. The unit shares the IBCG buildling with another unit with which it shares information technology management, building maintainance, seminar organization and reception. The building and facilities are managed through a "groupement de services" by the heads of the two units. Group leaders meet once a month to discuss the scientific and operational policy of the unit. A laboratory council meets three times a year to discuss the unit organization and equipment projects and for consultation on its scientific policy. A health and safety and a maintenance committee have been set up during the current period to help the director in the decision making process. 2  Overall assessment of the unit

HCERES nomenclature

SVE_LS2, _LS1

Unit workforce

Unit workforce

Global assessment of the unit

The unit specializes in the fields of non-coding RNA biology, nuclear structure and function. Some of its teams are at the forefront of their field. The unit provides a dynamic scientific environment and has published around three quarters of its findings in excellent or very good journals. The unit is attractive with the incoming of a quite large number of permanent researchers or university professors. Research is supported by a variety of platforms including advanced light and electron microscopy and next generation sequencing (NGS). The unit is strongly involved in teaching which definitively helps in the recruitment of talented M2 and PhD students most of whom have found jobs related to science. However, while 14 post-docs were trained over the past 5 years, the unit currently encounters difficulties in recruiting new post-doctoral fellows.

In the past five years, most teams have been able to attract sufficient funding through competitive grants. Obtaining grants might be more difficult in the future. This situation is not specific to this unit, being general in the country, but support from European Union grants has not been obtained yet, which is considered as a priority. A couple of applications are pending.

In the future, the plans are to integrate the unit in the Center for Integrative Biology (CBI) that will consist of five units with related interests.The CBI will be housed in the current building and a new one, due in 2018. The creation of the CBI will enrich the scientific life of the unit, provide access to more tools and allow for economies of scale.

Strengths and opportunities in relation to the context

-the unit has a long standing expertise in non-coding RNA and nucleus biology; a clear scientific strategy within the framework of the CBI is proposed by the unit;

three quarters of the research groups are less than ten years old. All teams are dynamic;

the teams have access to up to date technologies in light and electron microscopy and NGS. The creation of the CBI will increase the toolbox at their disposal;

the unit researchers are strongly involved in teaching at the university.

Weaknesses and threats related to the context -the financial support of several teams is not ensured in the future. This situation is worrisome in the face of declining ANR project application success; -the number of post-doctoral fellows and PhD students should be increased given the number of HDRs in the unit;

-biostatistics and bioinformatics should be strengthened; 6 -support for electron microscopy EM is not sufficient.

Recommendations

-the committee strongly recommends that the unit teams actively look for support from the European Union in the form of ERC or H2020 grants. They might also turn to the private sector; -while the unit is attracting researchers, the number of non-permanent researcher should be increased, in particular post-doctoral fellows;

-the CBI will definitively be essential for the future of the unit and, more generally, for biology in Toulouse. The unit is praised for its implication in this endeavour and strongly encouraged to pursue its very active participation to the setting up of the CBI; -the unit wants to recruit at least one new team. However, it should be cautious in selecting candidates that are able to support their research at the highest level. To have suitable candidates the unit should be prepared to offer an attractive installation package upfront.

  , Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris Mr Christophe CARLES, Institute of Biology and Technology, Saclay Mr Jean CAVARELLI, Integrated Structural Biology Department, Illkirch (representative of the CNU) Mr Witold FILIPOWICZ, Friedrich Miescher Institute, Switzerland Mr Olivier JEAN-JEAN, University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris (representative of the CoNRS) Mr Bertrand SERAPHIN, Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology, Illkirch Scientific delegate representing the HCERES: Mr Pierre COUBLE Representatives of the unit's supervising institutions and bodies: Mr Dominique GIORGI, CNRS Mr Alexis VALENTIN, University Toulouse 3 Mr Philippe VALET (Doctoral School UPS -"Biologie, santé, biotechnologies" -ED N°151) 1  Introduction History and geographical location of the unit

Number as at 30/06/2014 Number as at 01/01/2016 N1: Permanent professors

	and similar positions	8	9
	N2: Permanent researchers from Institutions and similar positions	17	18
	N3: Other permanent staff (without research duties)	18	19
	N4: Other professors (Emeritus Professor, on-contract Professor, etc.)
	N5: Other researchers (Emeritus Research Director, Postdoctoral students, visitors, etc.)	2	2
	N6: Other contractual staff (without research duties)	1	1
	TOTAL N1 to N6	46	49

Unit workforce Number as at 30/06/2014 Number as at 01/01/2016

	Doctoral students	9
	Theses defended	20
	Postdoctoral students having spent at least 12 months in the unit	14
	Number of Research Supervisor Qualifications (HDR) taken	6
	Qualified research supervisors (with an HDR) or similar positions	18	15


Evaluation report

This report is the result of the evaluation by the experts committee, the composition of which is specified below.

The assessments contained herein are the expression of an independent and collegial deliberation of the committee. This research unit is presently created de novo and hosted in the University Jean Monnet of Saint-Etienne. The team is mainly constituted of clinicians in either Nutrition, Endocrinology or Psychiatry issued from three different research units:

Unit name:

-Laboratoire Epsylon (EA 4556) located in Montpellier but with a subbranch residing in Saint-Etienne (PU-PH: 2, PH: 1, Psychologists: 2); -Laboratoire de Physiologie de l'exercice (EA 4338), Saint-Etienne (PU-PH: 2, MCU-PH: 1, CCA:1) ; -UMR 7289, Institut des Neurosciences de la Timone (Marseille) (PU-PH: 1).

The location of the unit is the university premises of the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism in the Hopital Nord of the CHU of Saint-Etienne. Qualified research supervisors (with an HDR) or similar positions 2  Overall assessment of the unit

Management team

Global assessment of the unit

The global assessment of the unit is good.

The research unit is the outcome of a long-term collaboration between endocrinologists and psychiatrists in the care of patients suffering from eating disorders and related addictive behaviors. This kind of collaboration allows a multidirectional approach based on a large recruitment and a very robust phenotyping of the patients which are important prerequisites in this research field.

The phenotypic definition of the "constitutive thinness syndrome" is particularly original and useful as it furnishes an original control group minimizing the participation of under nutrition as a major bias in the study of anorexia nervosa. Besides, this clinical entity is by itself a promising model to explore phenomena involved in the body energy storage and expenditure regulatory processes.

The transversal approach combines genetics, omics, functional brain imaging and therapeutic trials. These researches are particularly useful in a group of diseases of which the pathogenic mechanisms remain obscure, if not totally unknown. This lack of knowledge mostly explains why the usual therapeutic approaches are still palliative and so disappointing.

Strengths and opportunities in relation to the context

Long term experience of collaborative clinical practice and research between endocrinologists and psychiatrists.

Rarity of research units involved in the field of eating disorders especially at the National level. This situation is partly due to the position of these diseases at the intersection of neurosciences, nutrition and metabolism and psychiatry.

Real originality due to the clinical model based on identification and characterization of the rare "Constitutive Thiness Syndrome" and recruitment of some pedigrees with a familial distribution of this phenotype.

National recognition of expertise of the group with qualitatively a rather good scientific production in ranked A-B journals in endocrinology during the last 10 years (J Clin Endocinol Metab [3], Diabetes Care [1], Endocrinology [1]) and psychiatry as well (Psychoneuroendocrinology [2], J Psychiatry Neurosci [1], Arch Gen Psychiatry [1]). It is worthy to note that there is few research teams on this topic in France and the Saint-Etienne's one should be considered as one of the most productive.

A large local recruitment of patients suffering from either eating disorders or constitutive thinness syndrome and a biobank of more than 3000 plasma samples stored.

The active participation to national (GIR AFDAS TCA) and European (CostB6, INTACT) networks even if some of these programs are closed since few years.

Allocation of public and private funding: inter-regional PHRC (2009,2012,2014), Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences and pharmaceutical industry.

The recent recruitment of a PU-PH in psychiatry from Marseille (Mr Eric FAKRA) with a large experience of functional brain imaging.

An access to CERMEP imaging center (GIE, Economic Interest Group, of which Saint-Etienne Hospital is member) in Lyon.

Weaknesses and threats related to the context

The absence of full time researcher is critical as the real time for research of every participant of the team does not exceed 50% and even could be less (especially for clinicians).

A very weak scientific logistic as the team is mainly depending upon other structures located outside for the totality of the projects: biochemical and molecular biology in several laboratories, functional brain imaging in the regional platform "CERMEP", etc.

Absence of geographic unity of the research unit risking to impair the exchanges between various researchers. The opening of a "Reference Center on Eating Disorders" inside the Hospital should welcome academic premises to facilitate the scientific life of the unit.

The projects are probably too numerous for the available research time of the team. There is some gap between neuropsychologic investigations and the search for an explanation of the resistance of the subjets with a constitutive thinness syndrome to gain weight.

Although a good publication rate in high ranked journal (A or B rank) was observed during the 10 last years, a tendancy toward softening characterized the last 5 years. The annual rate of publications in referenced journals during this period was rather low (2014: 3, 2013: 2, 2012: 3, 2011: 4, 2010:3, 2009: 6) for 7 permanent professors in the team.

Recommendations

To avoid thematic dispersion, the activity should be centered upon the most federative and/or fruitful projects: mainly functional brain imaging and constitutive thinness syndrome. The others aspects (embodied cognition, transcranial magnetic stimulation, pathological gambling, ect.) should be considered as complementary or ancillary projects of the preceeding ones.

The rapid recruitment of permanent researchers is mandatory. But it is also important to increase the time dedicated to research in seniors of the team and students as well. Presence of full time researchers could offer a better guidance to the students. The asserted support of university should be concretized by both providing academic spaces and possibility to recruit full time scientists (post-doctorate researchers, engineers, ect.). In this context, the ratio of PIs vs PhD students/postdocs is unbalanced (more HDR than PhD students and postdocs together), and thus the support of the university to obtain fellowships would be recommended.

Efforts are needed to improve the quality and the rate of scientific publication.

  Louis NANDRINO, University of Lille 3 (representative of the CNU) Mr Ruben NOGUEIRAS, University Santiago de Compostela, Spain Scientific delegate representing the HCERES: Mr Jean GIRARD Representatives of the unit's supervising institutions and bodies: Ms Aurélie CHANNET, Affaires médicales, CHU St-Etienne Mr Christophe DESRAYNAUD (representative of the Doctoral School SIS n°488) Mr Didier LE BARS, CERMEP, Lyon Mr Youcef OUERDANE, University Jean Monnet, St-Etienne 1  Introduction History and geographical location of the unit:

Unit workforce Number as at 30/06/2014 Number as at 01/01/2016 N1: Permanent professors and similar positions 7 5 N2: Permanent

	Mr Bogdan GALUSCA
	HCERES nomenclature
	SVE1_L4
	Unit workforce
	N6: Other contractual staff (without research duties)	3	3
	TOTAL N1 to N6	12	10
	Unit workforce	Number as at 30/06/2014	Number as at 01/01/2016
	Doctoral students	3
	Theses defended	4

researchers from Institutions and similar positions N3: Other permanent staff (without research duties) 2 2 N4: Other professors (Emeritus Professor, on-contract Professor, etc.) N5: Other researchers from Institutions (Emeritus Research Director, Postdoctoral students, visitors, etc.) Postdoctoral students having spent at least 12 months in the unit Number of Research Supervisor Qualifications (HDR) taken 7


Bernard Linet

Electrostatics in a wormhole geometry

teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers.

The physical effects in wormholes has been a subject of considerable investigation. The present work is devoted to solving the electrostatic equation in closed form in the background metric of Morris and Thorne [1] which describes a simple wormhole. We take up again the question of the electrostatic self-energy analysed by Khusnutdinov and Bakhmatov [2] in the framework of the multipole formalism. We emphasize that we consider electrostatics in a static spherically symmetric wormhole connecting two different asymptotically flat spacetimes. Of course, electromagnetism in a static spherically symmetric wormhole connecting two distant regions in the same spacetime is radically different [3].

In the paper of Morris and Thorne [1], a simple geometry of wormhole is described by the metric

ds 2 = -dt 2 + dl 2 + l 2 + w 2 dθ 2 + sin 2 θdϕ 2 (1)
in the coordinate system (t, l, θ, ϕ) with -∞ < l < ∞. The throat is located at l = 0. The two different asymptotically flat spacetimes are defined for l → ±∞.

To solve in the next the electrostatic equation, it is convenient to write metric (1) in isotropic coordinates (t, r, θ, ϕ). The radial cordinate r is related to the proper radial coordinate l by

r = 1 2 l + √ l 2 + w 2 (2)
with the range 0 < r < ∞. Now the throat is located at r = w/2. We note that

dr dl = l + √ l 2 + w 2 2 √ l 2 + w 2 satisfying dr dl > 0
and thus coordinate transformation ( 2) is valid eveywhere. The inverse transformation is given by

l = r - w 2 4r . (3)
Taking into account (2), metric (1) is written as

ds 2 = -dt 2 + 1 + w 2 4r 2 2 dr 2 + r 2 dθ 2 + sin 2 θdϕ 2 (4)
in the coordinate system (t, r, θ, ϕ) with r > 0.

We set the Cartesian coordinates (x i ), i = 1, 2, 3, associated to the spherical coordinates (r, θ, ϕ). Metric (4) takes then the form

ds 2 = -dt 2 + 1 + w 2 4r 2 2 (dx 1 ) 2 + (dx 2 ) 2 + (dx 3 ) 2 (5) with r = (x 1 ) 2 + (x 2 ) 2 + (x 3 ) 2 .
In the background metric (5), we consider a test electromagnetic field generated by a point charge e at rest. The charge density ρ of this point charge located at x i 0 has the expression

ρ(x i ) = e δ (3) (x i -x i 0 ) √ -g (6)
where g is the determinant of the metric (5),

√ -g = 1 + w 2 4r 2 3 .
We note (r 0 , θ 0 , ϕ 0 ) the position of the point charge with r 0 > 0. The Maxwell equations in metric (5) for the electric component A of the electromagnetic potential reduce with source (6) to the electrostatic equation

△A + h(r) x i r ∂ i A = - 4πe 1 + w 2 /4r 2 δ (3) (x i -x i 0 ) (7)
where △ is the Laplacian operator and the function h has the expression

h(r) = 1 1 + w 2 4r 2 d dr 1 + w 2 4r 2 = - w 2 2r (r 2 + w 2 /4) . ( 8
)
The aim of this work is to determine in closed form the solution to equation (7) which is smooth everywhere except of course at the point x i 0 . In a recent paper [4], we have shown that if h obeys certain differential relations then there exists a solution to equation (7) which can be written in the form

A(x i ) = eNg(r)g(r 0 )F (s(x i , x i 0 )) (9) with s(x i , x i 0 ) = Γ(x i , x i 0 ) k(r)k(r 0 ) (10) where Γ(x i , x i 0 ) = (x 1 -x 1 0 ) 2 + (x 2 -x i 0 ) 2 + (x 3 -x 3 0 ) 2 .
The functions g, k and F are to be determined and N is a numerical factor.

The first step is to determine the elementary function in the Hadamard sense A e to equation (7). This solution is defined by requiring in the vicinity of the point x i 0 the following development:

A e (x i ) = 1 Γ(x i , x i 0 ) U 0 (r, r 0 ) + U 1 (r, r 0 )Γ(x i , x i 0 ) + • • • . (11)
In the case of metric (5), we have from (7) the first coefficient

U 0 (r, r 0 ) = e 1 + w 2 /4r 2 1 + w 2 /4r 2 0 .
By inserting expression (8) into the differential relation of our previous paper [4], we obtain

h ′ + 1 2 h 2 + 2 r h = w 2 2(r 2 + w 2 /4) 2 .
In consequence, we know to be able to find a solution in form (9) by considering the case II of our paper. By comparing, we put a = w/2, b = w/2 and A = -4. The functions g and k are then given by

k(r) = r 2 + w 2 /4 w/2 , g(r) = r r 2 + w 2 /4 , (12)
and the differential equation for F is

s(1 -s)F ′′ + (-3s + 3/2)F ′ -F = 0. ( 13
)
According to (10) with (12), we have 0 ≤ s ≤ 1.

We are now in a position to determine in closed form the elementary solution in the Hadamard sense A e to equation ( 13) by taking as solution F e to equation ( 13)

F e (s) = 1 s(1 -s) (14)
since

F e (s) ∼ 1 √ s + 1 2 √ s as s → 0. (15)
Using (9), we get finally

A e (x i ) = 1 2 ewg(r)g(r 0 )F e Γ(x i , x i 0 ) k(r)k(r 0 ) (16)
with N = w/2 to satisfy (11). We can directly verify that A e given by expression (16) obeys the partial differential equation (7). However, we are in a case where solution (16) presents another singularity. Indeed, it defines a new point charge e diametrically opposed to x i 0 on the sphere r = r 1 with r 1 = w 2 /4r 0 . This corresponds to s = 1 in expression (14) since

F e (s) ∼ 1 √ 1 -s as s → 1.
We must look for another solution F v to equation ( 13) which leads only a point charge located at x i 0 . We take the solution

F v (s) = 1 2 s(1 -s) + arcsin(1 -2s) π s(1 -s) . ( 17
)
The regularity at s = 1 of expression (17) results from the fact that arcsin(-1) = -π/2. We note the expansion of function ( 17)

F v (s) ∼ 1 √ s - 2 π + 1 2 √ s - 4 3π s as s → 0. ( 18
)
This choice of function F v yields the electrostatic potential V generated by a point charge e located at x i 0

V (x i ) = 1 2 ewg(r)g(r 0 )F v Γ(x i , x i 0 ) k(r)k(r 0 ) . ( 19
)
We point out that the electric flux through the sphere at the infinity r → ∞ of the electrostatic potential (19) is

4πe 1 2 + 1 π arcsin r 2 0 -w 2 /4 r 2 0 + w 2 /4 . (20)
We have the opportunity to add to potential (19) the electrostatic monopole solution to equation (7) which is smooth everywhere but we have no prescription to fix this homogeneous solution.

We turn now to calculate the electrostatic self-energy. We develop expression (19) in the vicinity of the point x i 0 by using expansion (18). We get V (x i ) ∼ U 0 (r, r 0 ) Γ(x i , x i 0 ) -ew π g(r)g(r 0 ) as

x i → x i 0 . (21)
Thus, the electrostatic self-energy W of the point charge e at rest in the wormhole geometry (5) can be immediately deduces from development

  (21)W (r 0 ) = -1 2π e 2 wg 2 (r 0 ) = -e 2 wr 2 0 2π (r 2 0 + w 2 /4) 2 . (22)The electrostatic self-energy (22) can be expressed with the proper radial coordinate l in the form W (l 0 ) =coincides with the one of Khusnutdinov and Bakhmatov[2].

* E-mail: linet@lmpt.univ-tours.fr