Now online! Co-option of retrotransposons promotes antibody diversification

Co-option of retrotransposons promotes antibody diversification

A longstanding mystery in antibody diversification is how AID specifically targets immunoglobulin V genes. Ancient LINE-1 retrotransposons embedded within the immunoglobulin locus provide a recruitment platform for the HUSH complex and AID to drive somatic hypermutation.

dlvr.it

If you can't otherwise access it, here's a link to read our recent Science paper for free (valid for the first 2,000 clicks!): www.science.org/eprint/BYBPQ...

X-chromosome inactivation draws L1 mutagenesis to the human X chromosome

X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) enables gene dosage compensation in XX eutherians. Long interspersed element-1 (LINE-1 or L1) retrotransposons are unusually abundant on the human X chromosome and are ...

science.org

That’s a beautiful story that shows again how powerful long reads are for studying transposable elements. Exciting times! For accessing the Perspective piece without a paywall: www.science.org/eprint/NIKHD...

Why the X chromosome is rich in L1 mobile elements

Preferential insertion into the late-replicating inactive X explains L1 accumulation in this chromosome

science.org

Why is the X chromosome rich in L1 mobile elements? @science.org X-chromosome inactivation draws L1 mutagenesis to the human X chromosome | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

X-chromosome inactivation draws L1 mutagenesis to the human X chromosome

X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) enables gene dosage compensation in XX eutherians. Long interspersed element-1 (LINE-1 or L1) retrotransposons are unusually abundant on the human X chromosome and are ...

science.org

Our study published today @science.org shows that X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) attracts L1 mutations to the human X chromosome: doi.org/10.1126/scie... With outstanding Perspective from @aurelien-doucet.bsky.social & @retrogenomics.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1126/scie...

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

Introns have a hidden regulatory role! 🧬🎉 Delighted to share our latest paper showing that inefficiently spliced introns and spliceosomal proteins direct RNA methylation, engaging RNAi to silence retrotransposons and regulate gene expression nature.com/articles/s41...

New preprint 📢 Thrilled to share our long-awaited work on the role of RSX in marsupial X-inactivation. This was a huge team effort over the years, led by @aureliencourtois.bsky.social @sermenchero.bsky.social Sugako Ogushi and Waz Varsally, that allowed us to set up genome editing in opossum embryos

Genome editing of marsupial RSX reveals conserved and divergent principles in mammalian X-inactivation

X-chromosome inactivation balances X-gene dosage between the sexes in eutherians and marsupials. The lncRNA Xist mediates X-inactivation in eutherians but is absent from marsupials. An evolutionarily ...

biorxiv.org

EMBL's new AI unit is recruiting. We are seeking a machine learning scientist to establish their independent research group bridging innovations in machine learning/AI with modern biology. embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...

I am thrilled to share our paper out in @cp-cell.bsky.social : "Systematic Discovery of Pathogen Effector Functions across Human Pathogens and Pathways." (1/4) www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Systematic discovery of pathogen effector functions across human pathogens and pathways

The eORFeome, a large-scale collection of open reading frames encoding viral proteins and secreted bacterial and parasite effectors, enables functional genomics across diverse pathways and pathogens. ...

cell.com

Out today in Nature Microbiology: a paper that started in 2021 with an email from @sullivan-lab.bsky.social. Subject line: "Crazy ideas". www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/23

Will ARC run another round of #DiscoveryProjects (DP28)? They announced the new Future Fellowships round (FT27) 4 months before its application opening date. DP27 EOIs opened 3rd Nov last year. And 4 months before 3rd Nov this year is 3rd July. So, maybe next week they'll announce a new round?

Tomorrow is the deadline for AEpiA 2026 early bird registration and abstract submission! AEpiA 2026 will be held from 14–16 Sept 2026 at the National Wine Centre, Adelaide, bringing everyone together for 3 days of outstanding science, discussion and networking #AEpiA2026 #Epigenetics #Adelaide

Check out our latest research, just published in Nature @nature.com @molbiolau.bsky.social @au.dk Molecular basis of polyadenylated RNA fate determination in the nucleus www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Molecular basis of polyadenylated RNA fate determination in the nucleus - Nature

Biochemical, structural and cell biological analyses reveal that UAP56 (DDX39B) assembles with a TREX-2–like module that redirects non-functional polyadenylated RNAs from export to degradati...

nature.com

‪doi: doi.org/10.1038/s414... 📣 Our study is now out in Nature Communications detailing that the type I interferon pathway is suppressed by HUSH in early human development: Its complete epigenetic lockdown!! Incredible work from James Holt 📣 😎

We are hiring! A three year computational postdoc position is available in the Frost Lab at King's College London. Apply here (closes June 25th): www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/147825-...

Research Associate | King's College London

kcl.ac.uk

1/n What fraction of the human genome is essential for cells? Excited to share our preprint that explores this question by combining an unusual CRISPR system, phage promoters, and thousands of deletion launchpads. @sudpinglay.bsky.social @jshendure.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

New preprint! In an fun collaboration with @imaeso.bsky.social and @mirimiam.bsky.social led by Manu F-M, we set to explore the potential adaptation of transposable elements 👾 to host adenine DNA methylation by recruiting prokaryotic DAM methyltransferases: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6.... 1/6

Absolutely thrilled 💣 to share our preprint 🖨️: "Mapping active cis-regulatory elements from transcription initiation events”. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... We introduce nucCAGE and PRIME to identify active cis-regulatory elements (CREs) and disease-associated, non-coding variants.

Now out @natbiotech.nature.com ! Do lncRNAs commonly bind 1000s of genomic sites? Maybe they do, but the dozens of studies that report genomic binding maps of lncRNAs are deeply flawed, with probes binding suprious DNA sites rather than RNA-bound ones.

Igor Ulitsky@igorulitsky.bsky.social · 9mo ago

A preprint‼️that's bound to ruffle some 🪶 "Widespread DNA off-targeting confounds studies of RNA chromatin occupancy" led by our Micah Goldrich and Louis Delhaye from Pieter Mestdagh in Ghent. TL;DR we show that many of lncRNA chromatin occupancy obtained are flawed www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

1/ Preprint alert 🚨🚨🚨 How do cells decide where an mRNA should end? And how is that decision coordinated with splicing and transcription while the RNA is still being made? Here's what first author @hopem105.bsky.social found 👇

This a very important, and extremely well-executed study from Ralph Grand’s group @uniheidelberg.bsky.social. Congrats to all the authors! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Loss is maintenance DNA methylation during cell proliferation/aging etc is not random. Intriguing new findings from the Rao lab show a strong correlation with dinucleotides flanking CpG sites. Seems likely to be important. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

PREPRINT ALERT🚨➡️Genetics influencing #epigenetics: Flanking DNA sequences influence #DNAmethylation maintenance 🧬 It’s been a minute because I needed a media break 🧘🏻‍♂️, but I couldn’t resist popping back for this: We just dropped a new #bioRxiv preprint 😃🤞🏻 BTW I’m looking for (academic) jobs

bioRxiv Genomics@biorxiv-genomic.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Flanking DNA sequences determine DNA methylation maintenance in proliferation, cancer and aging https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.09.717557v1

Flanking DNA sequences determine DNA methylation maintenance in proliferation, cancer and aging https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.09.717557v1

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 · 4mo ago

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

I have a question for ONT users: I want to sequence only four unique loci (5-10kb), but in several, multiplexed samples. Is this a feasible application for adaptive sequencing? If you want more details about the experimental set up, I'd be happy to talk about it in the DMs

We go live!!! Join us Munich July5-7th to hear exciting research on #Replication by leaders in the field AND !! registration is FREE 🥳 (but mandatory) - we hope to see many in Munich 🍺 @helmholtzmunich.bsky.social @replifate.bsky.social @epicrossborders.bsky.social replifate.eu/event/meetin...

Events for February 2026

06-07 July 2026 | Munich, GermanyDNA Replication and Its Impact on Genome and Chromatin MaintenanceWe are RepliFate, a European Training Doctoral Network dedicated to understanding how DNA replication...

replifate.eu

More than 60% of Australian medical researchers left active research roles between 2019 & 2024 because they could not make ends meet - while my costings from the PBO suggest the govt could more than double annual spending from the MRFF without any effect on its base level of funding.

Up to $1.4 billion in medical research remains unused under government cap

Researchers say securing funding has become increasingly tough, with many left with no choice but to spend a disproportionate amount of time applying for grants.

abc.net.au

1/ 🧵 In our new paper, we show that JARID2 and PALI1 mimic H3K27me3 to antagonise PRC2. www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

Accessory subunits of PRC2 mimic H3K27me3 to restrict the spread of Polycomb domains

Some proteins mimic the repressive mark H3K27me3, but the physiological relevance of this phenomenon was unclear. Agius et al. show that the PRC2 subunits JARID2 and PALI1 mimic H3K27me3 to antagonize...

cell.com