Out now! In collaboration with Leifu Chang, we uncover the molecular and structural underpinnings of CRISPR-Cas12f-like RNA-guided transcription systems!
Links to the published articles:
tinyurl.com/55kpavet
tinyurl.com/sk6djwx3
Previous thread for the preprint:
bsky.app/profile/did:...
Question for the #cryoEM crowd: have you played with ModelAngelo, CryoAtom and EMProt, and would you care to offer thoughts/notes on the comparison? I have ModelAngelo installed and I love it, but the other two claim improved performance - which should I try first?
always good to have undo 🍄, looks very helpful!
Are you ready for *the* meeting about the evolutionary biology of Caenorhabditis and other nematodes??
EvoWorm 2026 will be held at McMaster University from June 16–19
Abstract submission deadline: April 15
Registration deadline: June 1
Further details can be found at evoworm.org
I argued in a piece I wrote in 2013 called ‘the frustrated gene’ that caps are an antiviral defense. Hence some viruses steal caps, other have their own capping enzymes, while others evolved IRESs. Here’s a virus that captured the entire cap recognition machinery. Conflicts begets comlexity.
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)
🧬🔬@science.org A genetically encoded device for #transcriptome storage in mammalian cells | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... @broadinstitute.org
PDB 7jsn colored by DAQ scores of fit in cryoEM map.
The ChimeraX DAQplugin computes DAQ scores showing the agreement between atomic models and cryoEM maps. Available from ChimeraX menu Tools / More Tools. cxtoolshed.rbvi.ucsf.edu/apps/chimera...
New interview alert! We had a chat with Mike Cianfrocco, Scott Stagg and Jan-Hannes Schäfer about their CryoSift tool – details in the thread. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROlc...
Beautiful story on the evolutionary response to fly telomeres battling the genome they protect the ends of!
Also, nice to see that the dream data clarity we all imagine when starting a project can actually materialize!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@sungyalin.bsky.social @levine-lab.bsky.social
How do new centromeres evolve while staying compatible with the division machinery?
Discover it in our new Nature paper! We show centromeres transition gradually via a mix of drift, selection, and sex, reaching new states that still work with the kinetochore.
👉 doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09779-1
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?
🚨 New paper alert!
Scientists in the Burga lab show for the first time how toxin-antidote elements—selfish genetic elements that perpetuate by poisoning those embryos that don’t inherit them—evolved from normal cellular proteins. More: https://imba.science/3M3fRyq
🪱 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.
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)
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!
Happy to share our work on the structure and function of the unusual E3 ligase ZNFX1 @cp-cell.bsky.social. It uses a nucleic acid-activated transthiolation mechanism, ubiquitinating and clustering RNA to protect cells in an immune response. @clausenlab.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
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...
