Super excited to share my postdoctoral work at @imbavienna.bsky.social @viennabiocenter.bsky.social - We discovered that some retrotransposons, or "jumping genes" 🧬, are able to spread from cell to cell via a new viral infectivity route. A short thread: 🧵👇 (1/7)

Thrilled to see this published today! Truly special because we made the initial discovery >15 yrs ago! We found two copies of a human gene called BC200 embedded in a human poxvirus. BC200 blurs the line between gene & transposon—both functional & mutagenic! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 🧵1/n

Escape of the BC200 gene to a human poxvirus reveals its persistent transposition in primates

Transposable elements mobilize within and occasionally between genomes, including from host to virus. We identified two insertions of the human BC200 noncoding RNA gene in the poxvirus molluscum conta...

science.org

Incredibly excited to share my new preprint! 🪰🧬 Ever wondered how germ cells can specify their fate without having a dedicated transcriptional program? We found that germ cells keep the uncommitted chromatin state of the early embryo www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Decoupling Transcription from Cell Fate Preserves Germ Cell Totipotency

Only germ cells can give rise to a totipotent embryo, yet a conserved transcriptional program for germ cell identity remains elusive. Profiling Drosophila primordial germ cells (PGCs) across embryogen...

biorxiv.org

Infertility affects ~1 in 6 people, and up to 30% of cases are unexplained. I am excited to present my postdoctoral work from @toddmacfarlan.bsky.social 's lab, now available as a preprint: tinyurl.com/yync6f2r addressing a possible role for the meiotic gene PRDM9 in infertility 🧵/1

📣 POSTDOC position available in the Feschotte Lab at Cornell to work on #TRANSPOSONS! More details below. Pls send informal application or inquiry ASAP by DM or email to cf458_at_cornell.edu. Pls spread the word 🙏 #TEsky www.thefeschottelabatcornell.com

I’m tenured! Thank you so much to everyone here, mentors, lab mates, colleagues, and the meiosis/centromere community for your support. This achievement was made possible by all the hard work by my amazing lab members over the past 6 years!🥳

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

How the complex issue of delineating #Transposons families plays out in the interpretation of epigenetic experiments. Congrats Xun Chen and @guilbourque.bsky.social for leading this work, and thank you for having me on this! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #TEsky

A phylogenetic approach uncovers cryptic endogenous retrovirus subfamilies in the primate lineage

A phylogenetic approach reveals cryptic LTR subfamilies and functional insights at nucleotide resolution in primates.

science.org

Is the annotation of viruses in the human genome accurate? We think not. Take a look at our new paper and let us know if you agree! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A phylogenetic approach uncovers cryptic endogenous retrovirus subfamilies in the primate lineage

A phylogenetic approach reveals cryptic LTR subfamilies and functional insights at nucleotide resolution in primates.

science.org

Are you bravely deciding to do a postdoc in the US? And also interested in some combination of genomics, immunology, and transposons? If so, consider applying to my lab at the BioFrontiers Institute in Boulder, Colorado! jobs.colorado.edu/jobs/JobDeta... 🧪🧬 #TESky #interferosky

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 (@jeffsekelsky.bsky.social Corbin Jones, & me) #Meiosis, Recombination & Evolution of Sex class @uncchapelhill.bsky.social loved talking w/ @scienceleah.bsky.social about her lab's @plos.org Genetics paper on a unique chromosome segregation mechanism in holocentric moths. doi.org/10.1371/jour...

New preprint from my group! Here we studied the contribution of a subset of human- and hominoid-specific transposons (SVA, LTR5HS) to the evolution of human craniofacial development. We specifically focussed on cranial neural crest (CNCC) formation and migration 1/n www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Human-specific transposable elements shaped the evolution of craniofacial development through regulation of neural crest migration

Craniofacial development and neural crest specification are evolutionarily conserved processes, yet subtle modifications to their gene regulatory networks drive species-specific craniofacial diversity...

biorxiv.org

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 · 2y ago

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

Here is the peer-reviewed version of our study showing how some TAD borders are essential for gene regulation and development. Loss of a single CTCF motif is sufficient to cause embryonic lethality. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Deletion of a single CTCF motif at the boundary of a chromatin domain with three FGF genes disrupts gene expression and embryonic development

Chromatin domains delimited by CTCF can restrict the range of enhancer action. However, disruption of some domain boundaries results in mild gene dysr…

sciencedirect.com

Feels awkward but necessary to celebrate scientific progress in this imperiled time for US biomedical research. Proud of our latest paper out today exploring the role of transposable elements in antiviral resistance to HIV 🦠 genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.... 🧵1/n

Transposable elements may enhance antiviral resistance in HIV-1 elite controllers - Genome Biology

Background Less than 0.5% of people living with HIV-1 are elite controllers (ECs)—individuals who maintain undetectable plasma viremia without antiretroviral therapy, despite having replication-compet...

genomebiology.biomedcentral.com

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #TEsky

Exploring the role of transposable elements to sex gap in longevity in Drosophila species

In Drosophila, like in many other animal species, females tend to live longer than males, a phenomenon known as sex gap in longevity (SGL). One of the possible causes underlying this phenomenon could ...

biorxiv.org