Melania Bruno
@melaniabruno.bsky.social
Molecular bio(techno)logist/adventurer. Fascinated by the molecular gears that underly life and evolution ⚙️🧬👩🔬 Views are my own
📣Huge congrats to our postdoc, Takaya Totsuka, on his new paper @currentbiology.bsky.social 🎉 He found that Ca2+ oscillations regulate oocyte spindle rotation! 🐭The project started during his PhD with Prof. Miho Ohsugi. Free link: authors.elsevier.com/c/1lUqk3QW8S...
authors.elsevier.com
Having a lot of fun at #EMBOMobileGenome 😃 Perfect timing for our paper from the lab of @toddmacfarlan.bsky.social to be out @natcomms.nature.com!! …and I’m currently on the job market looking for a new scientific home! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Young KRAB-zinc finger gene clusters are highly dynamic incubators of ERV-driven genetic heterogeneity in mice - Nature Communications
KRAB-zinc finger proteins repress retrotransposons and rapidly evolve in mammals. Here, the authors show that ERV insertions drive the emergence and diversification of new KZFP genes in mice, revealin...
nature.com
So excited to share this preprint from the Rosin lab in collaboration with the Hawley lab and @eelcotromer.bsky.social on moth spermatogenesis! We investigate the meiotic errors that occur during the formation of apyrene sperm (that have no DNA) in silkworms! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Programmed meiotic errors facilitate dichotomous sperm production in the silkworm, Bombyx mori
The goal of meiosis is typically to produce haploid gametes (eggs or sperm). Failure to do so is catastrophic for fertility and offspring health. However, Lepidopteran (moths and butterflies) males pr...
biorxiv.org
🚨Our latest work on selfish centromeres is published @currentbiology.bsky.social 🐭🧬We found that the spindle checkpoint contributes to non-Mendelian segregation! Huge congrats to our lab manager, Zaak Walton, who led the project🎉 Free link: authors.elsevier.com/a/1lQzN3QW8S...
authors.elsevier.com
Finally out! 🥳 Our paper showing how a transposable element (TE) insertion can cause developmental phenotypes is now published @natgenet.nature.com 🧬🦠🐁 Below is a brief description of the major findings. Check the full version of the paper for more details: www.nature.com/articles/s41588-025-02248-5
Enhancer adoption by an LTR retrotransposon generates viral-like particles, causing developmental limb phenotypes - Nature Genetics
Activation of an LTR retrotransposon inserted upstream of the Fgf8 gene produces viral-like particles in the mouse developing limb, triggering apoptosis and causing limb malformation. This phenotype c...
nature.com
Our study with Anjana Rao's lab was just published at NSMB 🥳 Shows how OGT prevents TET proteins from activating retrotransposons, particularly those in heterochromatin. Paper has 6-base and ONT sequencing data from OGT iKO mESCs, and also interesting OGT inhibitor data 👀. rdcu.be/efuho
OGT prevents DNA demethylation and suppresses the expression of transposable elements in heterochromatin by restraining TET activity genome-wide
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology - Here the authors show that the disruption of OGT expression in mouse embryonic stem cells unleashes TET activity, causing genome-wide decreases in DNA...
rdcu.be
New Akera's lab paper! Congrats @takashiakeralab.bsky.social and Eddie!
Meiosis-specific distal cohesion site decoupled from the kinetochore - Nature Communications
In general, the kinetochore position and the sister-chromatid cohesion site are spatially linked. Here, the authors find a meiosis-specific distal cohesion site decoupled from the kinetochore in Perom...
nature.com
I’m excited to share a new preprint from some of my work in the lab of @toddmacfarlan.bsky.social ! 😄 We dived into young KZFP gene clusters in different mouse strains and species to uncover mechanisms that facilitated their evolution and diversification in mice
bioRxiv Genetics@biorxiv-genetic.bsky.social · last yr.Young KRAB-zinc finger gene clusters are highly dynamic incubators of ERV-driven genetic heterogeneity in mice https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.26.640358v1