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Cedric Feschotte

@cedricfeschotte.bsky.social

1.1K followers 400 following 190 posts

Prof at Cornell, #firstgen, immigrant 🇫🇷🇺🇸. Transposons, viruses, and all the cool stuff genomes are made of. https://www.feschottelab.com

www.feschottelab.com

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Cedric Feschotte @cedricfeschotte.bsky.social · Apr 30

💥🥳 At long last, our latest paper is out!

Gag proteins of endogenous retroviruses are required for zebrafish development

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Led heroically by Sylvia Chang & @jonowells.bsky.social

A study which has changed the way I think of #transposons! No less! 🧵 1/n

Gag proteins encoded by endogenous retroviruses are required for zebrafish development | PNAS

Transposable elements (TEs) make up the bulk of eukaryotic genomes and examples abound of TE-derived sequences repurposed for organismal function. ...

www.pnas.org

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Reposted by Cedric Feschotte

Patrick Goymer @patrickgoymer.bsky.social · 5d

As we mourn Jane Goodall, this @nature.com article explores three ways in which she changed science:

1. Altering the way we view both other primates and ourselves
2. Inspiring generations of women scientists
3. Communicating science in a way that engaged the public

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Jane Goodall’s legacy: three ways she changed science

The primatologist challenged what it meant to be a scientist.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Cedric Feschotte

PlantEvolution 🌱🌾 @plantevolution.bsky.social · Aug 20

Out after peer review, collaborative study from Nordborg & Weigel labs with help from many others. Not the largest collection of new Arabidopsis thaliana genomes, but we hopefully put forward some good ideas for how to think about pangenomes and their analysis!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Reposted by Cedric Feschotte

Hajk-Georg Drost @hajkdrost.bsky.social · 6d

Thrilled to share what we learned from re-annotating the mobilome of the brown algae model [Ectocarpus] 🌊🌿🏖️

genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

A wonderful collaboration with @ericadinatale.bsky.social, @cssmartinho.bsky.social, @rorycraig.bsky.social, and Susana Coelho! 🎉

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Cedric Feschotte @cedricfeschotte.bsky.social · 5d

Very cool! Congrats Yong and colleagues!

Reposted by Cedric Feschotte

Yong E. Zhang @pkuzhangy.bsky.social · 7d

1/8 Our new paper w/ Drs. Caixia Gao & Gogo Liu groups reveals how #CRISPR-Cas12 systems evolved from transposon-encoded TnpB nucleases through RNA splitting by analyzing “TranC” systems (evolutionary intermediates bridging selfish elements and adaptive immunity). #Evolution

Cell - a Cell Press journal @cp-cell.bsky.social · 8d

Now online! Functional RNA splitting drove the evolutionary emergence of type V CRISPR-Cas systems from transposons

Functional RNA splitting drove the evolutionary emergence of type V CRISPR-Cas systems from transposons

Identification of TranC systems reveals evolutionary intermediates bridging from transposon-encoded TnpBs and CRISPR-Cas12 effectors. Evolutionary, structural, and functional analyses show that RNA splitting into tracrRNA and crRNA was a pivotal step in the emergence of type V CRISPR systems.

dlvr.it

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Cedric Feschotte @cedricfeschotte.bsky.social · 12d

Yes absolutely

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Cedric Feschotte @cedricfeschotte.bsky.social · 12d

Thank you Becky - it was awesome to finally meet you and exciting to hear about your ongoing work!

Cedric Feschotte @cedricfeschotte.bsky.social · 12d

Enchanted by the serene beauty of the Princeton campus and inspired by the creativity and generosity of the scientists I’ve met throughout this visit. Such a privilege to visit all these amazing places to present our science! Thanks Ricardo Mallarino for hosting me!

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Cedric Feschotte @cedricfeschotte.bsky.social · 14d

📣 Our department is hiring an Assistant Professor in Evolutionary Cell and Molecular Biology to join the @weillinstitute.bsky.social PLS spread the word!
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30607

Cornell University, Molecular Biology & Genetics

Job #AJO30607, WDR-00055221 Assistant Professor, Molecular Biology & Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, US

academicjobsonline.org

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Reposted by Cedric Feschotte

Tobias Warnecke @tobiaswarnecke.bsky.social · Sep 8

Please re-post:

Interested in chromatin and its evolution? Good news! There's still time to join us in beautiful Catalonia (9-12 Dec) to discuss eukaryotic, bacterial, archaeal, and viral chromatin and how it all hangs together meetings.embo.org/event/24-evo...

Abstract deadline: 30 September

EvoChromo: Evolutionary approaches to research in chromatin

Chromatin is the complex of DNA, RNA and protein that is found making up the chromosomes in eukaryotic cells. Chromatin is essential for proper genome function and is involved in chromosome segregati…

meetings.embo.org

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Cedric Feschotte @cedricfeschotte.bsky.social · Sep 5

Fascinating! Congrats to all on a great piece of detective work!

Reposted by Cedric Feschotte

Molly Przeworski @mollyprz.bsky.social · Sep 2

In these dark times, it comes as a rare pleasure to highlight @natanaels.bsky.social ‬ & @marcdemanuel.bsky.social's work on germline and somatic mutations in humans. 1/n
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

Collateral mutagenesis funnels multiple sources of DNA damage into a ubiquitous mutational signature

Mutations reflect the net effects of myriad types of damage, replication errors, and repair mechanisms, and thus are expected to differ across cell types with distinct exposures to mutagens, division ...

www.biorxiv.org

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Cedric Feschotte @cedricfeschotte.bsky.social · Aug 28

Kathy Burns kicks off #MGEMBL25 in beautiful Woods Hole, MA. It’s the 5th iteration of this meeting on mobile genetic elements devotedly spearheaded by Irina Arkhipova. Grateful and excited to be back here!

Reposted by Cedric Feschotte

Marina Lusic @marinalusic.bsky.social · Aug 20

Our work "Aquarius helicase facilitates HIV-1 integration into R-loop enriched genomic regions" is out @natmicrobiol.nature.com, showing HIV-1 integration into R-loop genomic regions upon their resolution by cellular splicing helicase Aquarius (AQR) of the Intron Binding Complex (IBC)🧵.

scheme of integration into R-loops mediated by AQR helicase

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Cedric Feschotte @cedricfeschotte.bsky.social · Aug 21

Good for you, I love my Guru! Happy B-Day John!

Reposted by Cedric Feschotte

Shawn Burgess @burgesslab.bsky.social · Aug 15

#zebrafish genome update, our T2T assembly of the inbred strain of AB (M-AB) generated by my buddy Nori Sakai has now been released at NCBI and will be a second reference genome for zebrafish (GRCz12ab):

JBQAYU000000000.1 Danio rerio :: NCBI

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Cedric Feschotte @cedricfeschotte.bsky.social · Aug 15

Fantastic news! Thanks for sharing 🙏

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Cedric Feschotte @cedricfeschotte.bsky.social · Aug 15

Congrats Baptiste et al! 👏Important work! 👍

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Reposted by Cedric Feschotte

Baptiste Rafanel @baptisterafanel.bsky.social · Aug 14

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...

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Cedric Feschotte @cedricfeschotte.bsky.social · Aug 13

One of my all-time faves

Itai Yanai @itaiyanai.bsky.social · Aug 13

Evolution is more like a tinkerer than an engineer. New things happen not by perfect engineering but by working with what's already available and repurposing existing objects through recombinations and modifications. This is a classic lesson for any kind of innovation, including that of new ideas..

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Reposted by Cedric Feschotte

Insta Science @instascience.bsky.social · Aug 12

Smart! A Raven doing Raven things.

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Reposted by Cedric Feschotte

PlantEvolution 🌱🌾 @plantevolution.bsky.social · Aug 10

Wonderful (and humble) essay on mentorship by Brandon Gaut, on occasion of Brandon receiving the inaugural Mentorship Award of @genetics-gsa.bsky.social. I hope this will be widely read!

academic.oup.com/genetics/art...

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Reposted by Cedric Feschotte

Denis Wirtz @deniswirtz.bsky.social · Aug 10

My team has updated our free database of POSTDOC fellowships.

This database contains 286 entries. For each entry, we provide a link, short description, deadline, amount, and eligibility criteria.

Download this updated and expanded database here: research.jhu.edu/rdt/funding-...

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Reposted by Cedric Feschotte

EMBL @embl.org · Aug 7

We’re looking for curious, innovative science leaders at EMBL Heidelberg! 🔬🧬🦠

Join a vibrant, interdisciplinary community where collaboration and innovation are nurtured at all levels.

Take a look at these four open positions 👇

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Cedric Feschotte @cedricfeschotte.bsky.social · Aug 6

🥳 CONGRATS 🍾 Dr. Satyam Srivastav who defended brilliantly his PhD thesis: “Function and Evolution of the PIWI-piRNA
Pathway: Insights from Fish and Flies”. Andy Clark & I are proud of you @kerogens101.bsky.social & can’t wait to see what u discover next as a postdoc with @marymullins.bsky.social!