Aaron Johnson
@chromatownie.bsky.social
Reposted by Aaron Johnson
Happy to announce the publication of our foray into studying what happens to the transcriptomes of nuclei when cells fuse to form a syncytium. More to follow in the coming few years.
One really wonderful thing about the Company of Biologists is that's it's free to publish there for my university!
One really wonderful thing about the Company of Biologists is that's it's free to publish there for my university!
Epidermal cell fusion promotes the transition from an embryonic to a larval transcriptome in C. elegans
Highlighted Article:eff-1–mediated cell fusion drives transcriptomic progression from an embryonic to larval state in the C. elegans epidermis, without which developmental progression is delayed.
journals.biologists.com
December 22, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Happy to announce the publication of our foray into studying what happens to the transcriptomes of nuclei when cells fuse to form a syncytium. More to follow in the coming few years.
One really wonderful thing about the Company of Biologists is that's it's free to publish there for my university!
One really wonderful thing about the Company of Biologists is that's it's free to publish there for my university!
Reposted by Aaron Johnson
The Reck-Peterson lab at Weill Cornell Medicine is seeking a technician or staff scientist to work on Aspergillus projects. Broad background in fungal biology and techniques required. Bioinformatics skills preferred. Find out more at: reckpetersonlab.org.
December 14, 2025 at 4:27 PM
The Reck-Peterson lab at Weill Cornell Medicine is seeking a technician or staff scientist to work on Aspergillus projects. Broad background in fungal biology and techniques required. Bioinformatics skills preferred. Find out more at: reckpetersonlab.org.
Reposted by Aaron Johnson
Our study with @stadtfeldlab.bsky.social on the dual mechanism by which EHMT2 is repressing totipotency-associated vs lineage-specific loci is now out @emboreports.org. See thread by @cmuyehara.bsky.social who led the study with K Chatterjee. Full article here link.springer.com/article/10.1...
December 14, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Our study with @stadtfeldlab.bsky.social on the dual mechanism by which EHMT2 is repressing totipotency-associated vs lineage-specific loci is now out @emboreports.org. See thread by @cmuyehara.bsky.social who led the study with K Chatterjee. Full article here link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Aaron Johnson
Very happy to share our paper rdcu.be/eUImj out today in @natcellbio.nature.com 🎉🎉🎉
We uncover an unexpected role for endogenous Xist RNA in regulating X-linked genes that escape X-inactivation.
We uncover an unexpected role for endogenous Xist RNA in regulating X-linked genes that escape X-inactivation.
Escape from X inactivation is directly modulated by Xist noncoding RNA
Nature Cell Biology - The authors show that increased Xist RNA levels can induce de novo silencing of genes that normally escape X inactivation. SPEN depletion prevents the silencing of escape...
rdcu.be
December 15, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Very happy to share our paper rdcu.be/eUImj out today in @natcellbio.nature.com 🎉🎉🎉
We uncover an unexpected role for endogenous Xist RNA in regulating X-linked genes that escape X-inactivation.
We uncover an unexpected role for endogenous Xist RNA in regulating X-linked genes that escape X-inactivation.
Reposted by Aaron Johnson
Excited to share that this work is now published in its final form!
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
December 15, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Excited to share that this work is now published in its final form!
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Aaron Johnson
Took us a bit, but proud of this published version. We now examine the genetic interaction of phosphorylation with oligomerization and where bulk and phospho-Swi6 localize. Wonder if chromatin affinity tuning to enable Suv39 H3K9me3 spreading is a conserved mechanism ?
doi.org/10.1093/nar/...
doi.org/10.1093/nar/...
December 12, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Took us a bit, but proud of this published version. We now examine the genetic interaction of phosphorylation with oligomerization and where bulk and phospho-Swi6 localize. Wonder if chromatin affinity tuning to enable Suv39 H3K9me3 spreading is a conserved mechanism ?
doi.org/10.1093/nar/...
doi.org/10.1093/nar/...
Reposted by Aaron Johnson
Absolutely thrilled to share the latest work from my lab focused on the variation and evolution of human centromeres among global populations! We assembled 2,110 human centromeres, identifying 226 new major haplotypes and 1,870 α-satellite HOR variants. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
December 16, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Absolutely thrilled to share the latest work from my lab focused on the variation and evolution of human centromeres among global populations! We assembled 2,110 human centromeres, identifying 226 new major haplotypes and 1,870 α-satellite HOR variants. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Aaron Johnson
@pravrutharaman.bsky.social got super intrigued about EZHIP/CATACOMB, previously identified as a histone H3K27M mimic of PRC2. You can read about her efforts here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... We hope these analyses will help spur more analyses in this very cool gene! 1/
Dynamic evolution of EZHIP, an inhibitor of the Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 in mammals
The Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) is an ancient, conserved chromatin-interacting complex that controls gene expression, facilitating differentiation and cellular identity during development. It...
www.biorxiv.org
December 13, 2025 at 10:08 PM
@pravrutharaman.bsky.social got super intrigued about EZHIP/CATACOMB, previously identified as a histone H3K27M mimic of PRC2. You can read about her efforts here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... We hope these analyses will help spur more analyses in this very cool gene! 1/
Reposted by Aaron Johnson
Known for decades: DNA sequence drives nucleosome "rotational positioning" (which face of DNA contacts histones)
But: How does this persist when remodelers & transcription constantly mobilize nucleosomes? Our new preprint 1/ :
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
But: How does this persist when remodelers & transcription constantly mobilize nucleosomes? Our new preprint 1/ :
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org
December 16, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Known for decades: DNA sequence drives nucleosome "rotational positioning" (which face of DNA contacts histones)
But: How does this persist when remodelers & transcription constantly mobilize nucleosomes? Our new preprint 1/ :
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
But: How does this persist when remodelers & transcription constantly mobilize nucleosomes? Our new preprint 1/ :
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Aaron Johnson
Confused by all the histones that are cropping up in organisms that are decidedly NOT eukaryotes? check out our review - fantastic work by team NucEvo in the #Lugerlab
The Expanding Histone Universe: Histone-Based DNA Organization in Noneukaryotic Organisms - www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
The Expanding Histone Universe: Histone-Based DNA Organization in Noneukaryotic Organisms - www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
December 9, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Confused by all the histones that are cropping up in organisms that are decidedly NOT eukaryotes? check out our review - fantastic work by team NucEvo in the #Lugerlab
The Expanding Histone Universe: Histone-Based DNA Organization in Noneukaryotic Organisms - www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
The Expanding Histone Universe: Histone-Based DNA Organization in Noneukaryotic Organisms - www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Reposted by Aaron Johnson
The Gonzalez Lab at Columbia University is seeking a scientific leader!
Join us in a Research Scientist position, driving single-molecule, structural, and biochemical studies of translation, translational control, and other RNA-based processes.
Apply: apply.interfolio.com/176949
Join us in a Research Scientist position, driving single-molecule, structural, and biochemical studies of translation, translational control, and other RNA-based processes.
Apply: apply.interfolio.com/176949
December 10, 2025 at 12:16 PM
The Gonzalez Lab at Columbia University is seeking a scientific leader!
Join us in a Research Scientist position, driving single-molecule, structural, and biochemical studies of translation, translational control, and other RNA-based processes.
Apply: apply.interfolio.com/176949
Join us in a Research Scientist position, driving single-molecule, structural, and biochemical studies of translation, translational control, and other RNA-based processes.
Apply: apply.interfolio.com/176949
Reposted by Aaron Johnson
How does a “universal” transcription factor evolve to do species-specific jobs?
Our new preprint reveals how divergence in TBP’s domains shapes transcriptional specialization across eukaryotes.
Read it here 👉
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#MolecularEvolution #Transcription
Our new preprint reveals how divergence in TBP’s domains shapes transcriptional specialization across eukaryotes.
Read it here 👉
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#MolecularEvolution #Transcription
Molecular determinants underlying functional divergence of TBP homologs
The TATA-box binding protein (TBP) is a highly conserved basal transcription factor and a core component of the pre-initiation complex (PIC) for all three eukaryotic RNA polymerases (RNA Pols). Despit...
www.biorxiv.org
October 7, 2025 at 7:43 PM
How does a “universal” transcription factor evolve to do species-specific jobs?
Our new preprint reveals how divergence in TBP’s domains shapes transcriptional specialization across eukaryotes.
Read it here 👉
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#MolecularEvolution #Transcription
Our new preprint reveals how divergence in TBP’s domains shapes transcriptional specialization across eukaryotes.
Read it here 👉
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#MolecularEvolution #Transcription
Reposted by Aaron Johnson
Some (+)ve news to lighten another heavy weekend: our latest preprint (c/o Mattiroli + Ramani labs) is up!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A tour-de-force by 1st authors Bruna Eckhardt & @palindromephd.bsky.social, focusing on chromatin replication. RTs welcome; tweetorial in 3,2...(1/n)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A tour-de-force by 1st authors Bruna Eckhardt & @palindromephd.bsky.social, focusing on chromatin replication. RTs welcome; tweetorial in 3,2...(1/n)
The eukaryotic replisome intrinsically generates asymmetric daughter chromatin fibers
DNA replication is molecularly asymmetric, due to distinct mechanisms for lagging and leading strand DNA synthesis. Whether chromatin assembly on newly replicated strands is also asymmetric remains un...
www.biorxiv.org
September 20, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Some (+)ve news to lighten another heavy weekend: our latest preprint (c/o Mattiroli + Ramani labs) is up!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A tour-de-force by 1st authors Bruna Eckhardt & @palindromephd.bsky.social, focusing on chromatin replication. RTs welcome; tweetorial in 3,2...(1/n)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A tour-de-force by 1st authors Bruna Eckhardt & @palindromephd.bsky.social, focusing on chromatin replication. RTs welcome; tweetorial in 3,2...(1/n)
Reposted by Aaron Johnson
Our paper is out in its final form! Back in April 2023, my coauthor Aleks Radakovic, then a PhD student, approached me after a talk in Chicago to ask what I thought an aminoacylated tRNA would look like if we pulled it through a @nanopore.
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Nanopore sequencing of intact aminoacylated tRNAs - Nature Communications
Accurate protein synthesis depends on aminoacylated tRNAs, but their identities have been hard to measure. Here, authors present aa-tRNA-seq, a nanopore-based method that reveals the amino acid, seque...
doi.org
August 22, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Our paper is out in its final form! Back in April 2023, my coauthor Aleks Radakovic, then a PhD student, approached me after a talk in Chicago to ask what I thought an aminoacylated tRNA would look like if we pulled it through a @nanopore.
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Reposted by Aaron Johnson
if i were a better person i would do a tweetorial on our recent paper - but, hey, read the paper. its right there, waiting for you. #Giantvirus #histones are cool! their #nucleosomes are cool. check it out.! thats the tweetorial.
rdcu.be/exXBX
rdcu.be/exXBX
July 26, 2025 at 7:09 PM
if i were a better person i would do a tweetorial on our recent paper - but, hey, read the paper. its right there, waiting for you. #Giantvirus #histones are cool! their #nucleosomes are cool. check it out.! thats the tweetorial.
rdcu.be/exXBX
rdcu.be/exXBX
Reposted by Aaron Johnson
Today is a devastating reminder that infectious diseases don’t care what your ‘beliefs’ are. Everyone is likely to be affected directly or indirectly. Serious challenges require serious people at the helm. Protect your loved ones. Educate. Advocate. The cost of not doing so will be too much to bear.
February 26, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Today is a devastating reminder that infectious diseases don’t care what your ‘beliefs’ are. Everyone is likely to be affected directly or indirectly. Serious challenges require serious people at the helm. Protect your loved ones. Educate. Advocate. The cost of not doing so will be too much to bear.
Reposted by Aaron Johnson
ATTENTION (PLEASE SHARE)
If anyone has or knows of any positions that might be appropriate for the NIH staff members who were terminated, please post the information in this thread.
There are lots of talented and accomplished people who may be looking for new opportunities.
If anyone has or knows of any positions that might be appropriate for the NIH staff members who were terminated, please post the information in this thread.
There are lots of talented and accomplished people who may be looking for new opportunities.
a poster that says if life gives you lemon make lemonade on it
ALT: a poster that says if life gives you lemon make lemonade on it
media.tenor.com
February 15, 2025 at 3:37 PM
ATTENTION (PLEASE SHARE)
If anyone has or knows of any positions that might be appropriate for the NIH staff members who were terminated, please post the information in this thread.
There are lots of talented and accomplished people who may be looking for new opportunities.
If anyone has or knows of any positions that might be appropriate for the NIH staff members who were terminated, please post the information in this thread.
There are lots of talented and accomplished people who may be looking for new opportunities.