How do transposons jump when they’re released from host control? I babysat two chromosomes for 2 years, making sure they are ok without most piRNAs. Here’s what we found & excited to share my 1st postdoc paper: “piRNA loss unleashes episodic transposition bursts” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

piRNA loss unleashes episodic transposition bursts

In Metazoa, transposon expression is suppressed by the piRNA pathway, and disruption of this pathway leads to rampant transposon expression. However, it remains unclear whether increased transposon ex...

biorxiv.org

Cool study! TEs in the male Drosophila germline jump in bursts

bioRxiv Genetics@biorxiv-genetic.bsky.social · 4w ago

piRNA loss unleashes episodic transposition bursts https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.11.737971v1

www.cell.com/molecular-ce... I'm happy to see our work published! If you are interested in transposons, transcriptional regulation and Pol III come and check it out 👀 🧫 🧬

ChAHP silences SINE retrotransposons by inhibiting TFIIIB recruitment

SINEs are short transposable elements that make up large fractions of mammalian genomes. Known to be transcribed by RNA polymerase III, their regulation has remained largely unexplored. Schnabl-Baumga...

cell.com

Our new work with Eric Lai's lab shows that endogenous RNAi represses only a few genes in D.melanogaster, but hundreds of mRNAs in D. simulans testis. Our data suggest that gene regulation by RNAi is essential for D.simulans spermatogenesis. @lucksmith.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

bioRxiv Molecular Biology@biorxiv-molbio.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Divergent regulatory impacts of endogenous siRNAs on host mRNAs in testis of closely related species https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.18.725984v1

Our latest work is now online in NSMB: maternal yolk carries microRNAs from the intestine to embryos, shaping gene regulation and stress resilience in the next generation. rdcu.be/fj8Er #Epigenetics #microRNA #Inheritance @pasteur.fr @devstempasteur.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu

Soma-to-germline miRNA inheritance through yolk promotes stress resilience in progeny - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology

In this study, the authors use the Caenorhabditis elegans model organism to show that maternal microRNAs are delivered from the intestine to embryos by the yolk, where they regulate gene expression an...

nature.com

🧬 New research from the Burga lab! We took a closer look at a rogue selfish protein and caught evolution in the act of turning something old into something radically new 💡 (a.k.a. neofunctionalization) @imbavienna.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Curious? Here’s a breakdown:

I'm super happy to finally see the paper published ! Check out the full story here: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

The EMBO Journal@embojournal.org · 3mo ago

Retrovirus insertions in host transcripts trigger de novo piRNA immunity: Kirsten-André Senti, @juliusbrennecke.bsky.social et al investigate the 20th-century invasion of D. melanogaster by iERV Tirant to reveal piRNA-pathway evolution in response to new threats link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Five years after a short rotation in the Peters lab, I’m happy to see this cool story spearheaded by Gordana Wutz finally published.

IMP@impvienna.bsky.social · 3mo ago

🧬 Inside the cell nucleus, two meters of DNA are folded into shape by cohesin—a protein complex that forms DNA loops. But how is this process controlled? Our Peters’ lab and collaborators have discovered how cells put the brakes on DNA loop formation: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Reminder: PhD position in my lab is open for two more weeks. How do germ cells use their own private transcription factors? Come help us find out. Fully funded. Deadline May 1. Flyer attached — please boost! 🙏

Peter Andersen@germline.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Germ cells have their own versions of core transcription factors and fertility depends on them. We're hiring a PhD student to figure out how! 📢 Fly genetics + proteomics + genomics. Fully funded. Aarhus University 🇩🇰 Deadline May 1 👇 Please share with anyone who might be interested!

Love Drosophila genetics — this journal club was a great way to share that enthusiasm and pay tribute to the pioneers of transposons regulation 🪰 How classical genetics uncovered key determinants of TE silencing #transposon @igred.fr @igred.fr 👇👇

Nature Reviews Genetics@natrevgenet.nature.com · 5mo ago

New online! How classical genetics uncovered key determinants of TE silencing

Germ cells have their own versions of core transcription factors and fertility depends on them. We're hiring a PhD student to figure out how! 📢 Fly genetics + proteomics + genomics. Fully funded. Aarhus University 🇩🇰 Deadline May 1 👇 Please share with anyone who might be interested!

How does the piRNA pathway solve the self vs. non-self problem? 🧬 Since piRNAs come from single-stranded RNA, how does the cell choose the right ones? For years, "piRNA clusters" were seen as THE privileged source. But are they really special and earmarked for biogenesis? (1/19)

bioRxiv Molecular Biology@biorxiv-molbio.bsky.social · 6mo ago

A Naïve RNA Sampling Core Enables Adaptive piRNA Specificity Against Transposable Elements https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.07.704324v1

A Naïve RNA Sampling Core Enables Adaptive piRNA Specificity Against Transposable Elements https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.07.704324v1

Ulrich’s research will help advance our understanding of RNA biology & gene regulation, as well as how these mechanisms might be altered during viral infections & other diseases. @hohmannulrich.bsky.social comes from the @impvienna.bsky.social / @imbavienna.bsky.social www.imb.de/about-imb/ne...

After a huge amount of work w/ @alex-stark.bsky.social's group, a new version of our Ledidi preprint is now out! In an era of AI-designed proteins, the next leap will be controlling when, where, and how much of these proteins are expressed in living cells. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Programmatic design and editing of cis-regulatory elements

The development of modern genome editing and DNA synthesis has enabled researchers to edit DNA sequences with high precision but has left unsolved the problem of designing these edits. We introduce Le...

biorxiv.org

Happy to share that my PhD project is finally published!🪱✨ Selfish genes are found across the tree of life. They can disrupt inheritance patterns and at the same time act as units for molecular innovation. Here we tried to answer one big question: how do selfish genes emerge in the first place?

Nature Ecology & Evolution@natecoevo.nature.com · 9mo ago

Recurrent evolution of selfishness from an essential tRNA synthetase in Caenorhabditis tropicalis 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🪱 Selfish genes are everywhere and drive some of biology’s biggest innovations (CRISPR, antibody recombination, epigenetics). Yet almost no one asks the obvious question: how does a selfish gene begin? Our new manuscript uncovers how selfishness can emerge directly from the host genome.

Finally out in @nature.com! We uncovered a mechanistic framework for a general and conserved mRNA nuclear export pathway. www.nature.com/articles/s41.... 1/

Lastly, I’m excited to join @imbmainz.bsky.social in 2026 to start my own lab. We'll explore new mechanisms in eukaryotic gene expression, leveraging ‘evolutionary play’ to uncover how regulation, repurposing, and hijacking shape RNA biology. tinyurl.com/y4x29ctt Thanks for reading! 20/20

just in time for the opening of the @hohmannulrich.bsky.social group at @imbmainz.bsky.social what started as a project on how cells export piRNA precursors, ended up as a tour de force in mRNA export. truly wonderful collaboration with @plaschkalab.bsky.social at the @viennabiocenter.bsky.social

IMP@impvienna.bsky.social · 9mo ago

New paper alert! Scientists in Clemens Plaschka’s lab at the IMP and @juliusbrennecke.bsky.social's lab at @imbavienna.bsky.social solved a decade-old puzzle, uncovering how the information molecule mRNA travels from the cell’s nucleus to its periphery. More: bit.ly/4nHcvys

When transposons jump, genomes diverge - even in cultured cells. I am happy to share our new preprint: a chromosome-scale genome assembly for Drosophila OSC cells, one of the key model systems in the piRNA field, especially for nuclear piRNA biology. 🧬🧵 (1/12)

How are RNAs sorted for export vs. degradation in the nucleus? In collaboration with @heick.bsky.social’s lab we (@clemensplaschka.bsky.social and @juliusbrennecke.bsky.social labs) discovered a direct mechanistic link between the export and decay machineries: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... (1/x)

Molecular basis of polyadenylated RNA fate determination in the nucleus

Eukaryotic genomes generate a plethora of polyadenylated (pA+) RNAs[1][1],[2][2], that are packaged into ribonucleoprotein particles (RNPs). To ensure faithful gene expression, functional pA+ RNPs, in...

biorxiv.org

My first first-author paper is out!🎉 Here we propose a model where a silencing complex, PIWI*, assembles on target RNAs to recruit effectors and shut down transposon activity. Huge thanks to the Brennecke and Plaschka labs, especially Julius and Clemens, and all co-authors!

Julius Brennecke@juliusbrennecke.bsky.social · 11mo ago

PIWI clade Argonautes are essential for transposon silencing. Without them, animals are sterile due to massive transposon activity. But how does piRNA-guided target interaction translate into silencing? PhD student Júlia Portell Montserrat has an intriguing answer www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

1/ How do animals develop immunity against a newly encountered transposable element from scratch? Our study reveals that the mobility of TEs is their Achilles heel, allowing hosts to develop a powerful small RNA-mediated silencing response. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Antisense transposon insertions into host genes trigger piRNA mediated immunity

Transposable elements pose a persistent threat to genome integrity, yet how host defense systems adapt to newly invading elements remains poorly understood. Here, we reveal how Drosophila melanogaster...

biorxiv.org

bioRxiv Genetics@biorxiv-genetic.bsky.social · last yr.

Antisense transposon insertions into host genes trigger piRNA mediated immunity https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.28.667215v1