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Reposted by Peter Andersen

Sheila Teves @sheilateves.bsky.social · 1d

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

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

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Reposted by Peter Andersen

FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · 5d

There's an update on the state of FlyBase on the FlyBase.org front page. You can contribute to FlyBase at this link wiki.flybase.org/wiki/FlyBase...
We express enormous gratitude to the people, labs, groups, and foundations who have already helped us.
#FlyBase #Drosophila

FlyBase Update – October 2025
The termination of the NIH/NHGRI FlyBase grant has placed the long-term sustainability of FlyBase at risk. However, thanks to the generous support of several key individuals and institutions, we are pleased to announce that FlyBase will remain operational through the coming year. We extend our deepest gratitude to Yukiko Yamashita, Cassandra Extavour, Hugo Bellen, Thom Kaufman, the Genetics Society of America / Drosophila Board, the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center, an anonymous donor and the Wellcome Trust. We are especially thankful for a generous gift from Seemay Chou, Jed McCaleb, and The Navigation Fund. We also greatly appreciate the continued support from the broader Drosophila community – your donations and service fees have been vital in helping us stay afloat. Special thanks also go to Jessica Manning for her tireless administrative work at Harvard, to Ruth Lehmann, Hugo Bellen, and Paul Sternberg for advice and efforts, and to the Board of the European Drosophila Society for all their efforts. Sadly, we must also share that several long-standing FlyBase team members have recently moved on. We are immensely grateful to Susan Russo-Gelbart, Lynn Crosby, Gil dos Santos, Kris Broll, Victoria Jenkins, and TyAnna Lovato for their many years of dedicated service and contributions to FlyBase. Looking ahead, ensuring FlyBase’s sustainability beyond the next year – and successfully integrating with the Alliance – will require new funding sources. We kindly ask for your continued support:
• European labs: Please consider contributing to the Cambridge, U.K. FlyBase group
• U.S. and other non-European labs: Please consider contributing to the U.S. FlyBase groups
• Both U.K. and U.S. FlyBase are working diligently to establish an invoicing system. We appreciate your continued patience.
For more information on how to support us, please visit: Contribute to FlyBase wiki page https://wiki.flybase.org/wiki/FlyBase:Contribute_to_FlyBase

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Reposted by Peter Andersen

Julius Brennecke @juliusbrennecke.bsky.social · 3d

The Vienna BioCenter PhD Program application deadline is approaching: October 10!

Join one of Europe’s premier life science campuses, home to cutting-edge research across all areas of biology.
Apply and start your scientific journey in Vienna!

training.vbc.ac.at/phd-program/

#PhD #LifeSciences

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Reposted by Peter Andersen

Maik Bischoff @maikbischoff.bsky.social · 5d

My entry for today’s #FluorescenceFriday: a pupal #Drosophila testis with muscles expressing
🔵 lifeact &
🔴 RFP-nls

Honored & grateful to receive an honorable mention at @healthcare.nikon.com Nikon Small World 🌍🔬✨

🔗 www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/20...

#NikonSmallWorld #Microscopy #ScienceArt

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Reposted by Peter Andersen

Riccardo Pianezza @rpianezza.bsky.social · 4d

We discovered an endogenous retrovirus that's still spreading in natural D. melanogaster populations! It was horizontally transferred from D. erecta in Central Africa, so we named it "Kuruka", which means "jump" in Swahili. Read its cool story here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Peter Andersen @germline.bsky.social · 6d

Congrats Mada!! 🥳

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Reposted by Peter Andersen

Lori Passmore @lapassmore.bsky.social · 11d

We have an open post-doc position in my group to study mRNA cleavage and polyadenylation using biochemical reconstitution and cryoEM.

Please get in touch if you are interested in joining this amazing team! 🔬🧬🤩
#RNA #cryoEM

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Reposted by Peter Andersen

Nick (derogatory) ✨ @slothropsmap.bsky.social · 12d

Now this is Content

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Reposted by Peter Andersen

Ulrich Hohmann @hohmannulrich.bsky.social · 15d

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)

Molecular basis of polyadenylated RNA fate determination in the nucleus

Eukaryotic genomes generate a plethora of polyadenylated (pA+) RNAs[1][1],[2][2], that are packaged into ribonucleoprotein particles (RNPs). To ensure faithful gene expression, functional pA+ RNPs, in...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Peter Andersen

László Tora @tlaszlo.bsky.social · Aug 12

Check out our new collaborative preprint about Affinity-ligand purification of native human low-abundance multi-protein complexes doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Affinity-ligand purification of native human low-abundance multi-protein complexes for structure determination

In human cells, large multi-protein transcription co-activators, such as chromatin remodelers or histone acetyltransferases, play critical roles in gene-expression regulation and are often implicated ...

doi.org

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Reposted by Peter Andersen

John Ngo @johntngo.bsky.social · 16d

🚀 Our new paper is out @natmethods.nature.com!

Kuffer & Marzilli engineered conditionally stable MS2 & PP7 coat proteins (dMCP & dPCP) that degrade unless bound to RNA, enabling ultra–low-background, single-mRNA imaging in live cells.

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧬 www.addgene.org/John_Ngo/

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Reposted by Peter Andersen

Laura Lorenzo Orts @lorenzoorts.bsky.social · 23d

I am excited to announce that I will be moving to IMB Mainz next year! The Winter call for the IPP PhD program is now open; if you are interested in maternal #mRNA regulation and #translation in early vertebrate development, please apply! Deadline: 16 October.

More info: www.imb.de/students-pos...

Laura Lorenzo Orts

IMB Mainz

www.imb.de

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Reposted by Peter Andersen

Melvin Noe Gonzalez @melv-noe-gonzalez.bsky.social · 19d

It is my pleasure to share with you the latest from @jsvejstrup.bsky.social lab, where we look at how the reduction of RNAPII levels has a severe, yet organized transcriptional response in the cell.

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Reposted by Peter Andersen

Julius Brennecke @juliusbrennecke.bsky.social · 20d

Love RNA biology?

Join us to explore the piRNA pathway with structural and genetic approaches (see 👇👇).

PhD student/postdoc position co-supervised by Clemens Plaschka & myself.

DM or email us if you’d like to know more!

@vbcscitraining.bsky.social @imbavienna.bsky.social @impvienna.bsky.social

Julius Brennecke @juliusbrennecke.bsky.social · 21d

PIWI clade Argonautes are essential for transposon silencing. Without them, animals are sterile due to massive transposon activity.

But how does piRNA-guided target interaction translate into silencing?

PhD student Júlia Portell Montserrat has an intriguing answer

www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

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Reposted by Peter Andersen

Jan Żylicz @jzylicz.bsky.social · 20d

Genes are not On/Off switches. In a new preprint we show that HDAC3 is key to establish correct transcriptional dose in development. Gr8 work from N. Stamidis @ucph.bsky.social and collab. @jamiehackett.bsky.social @gregersenlab.bsky.social . Huge thx to all authors! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

HDAC3 prevents enhancer hyperactivation to enable developmental transitions

Dynamic gene regulation requires precise cooperation between transcription factors and chromatin modifiers at regulatory elements to achieve not only activation or repression, but also appropriate tra...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Peter Andersen

Júlia Portell Montserrat @julsportell.bsky.social · 21d

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!

Julius Brennecke @juliusbrennecke.bsky.social · 21d

PIWI clade Argonautes are essential for transposon silencing. Without them, animals are sterile due to massive transposon activity.

But how does piRNA-guided target interaction translate into silencing?

PhD student Júlia Portell Montserrat has an intriguing answer

www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

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Peter Andersen @germline.bsky.social · 21d

Anyone interested in small RNA biology and gene regulation should put this paper on their reading list* (and follow Júlia)

Very elegant work and important mechanistic findings

*especially if your reading list (unlike mine) mostly consists of papers that you will actually manage to read

Júlia Portell Montserrat @julsportell.bsky.social · 21d

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!

Julius Brennecke @juliusbrennecke.bsky.social · 21d

PIWI clade Argonautes are essential for transposon silencing. Without them, animals are sterile due to massive transposon activity.

But how does piRNA-guided target interaction translate into silencing?

PhD student Júlia Portell Montserrat has an intriguing answer

www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

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Reposted by Peter Andersen

Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 21d

www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

A host organelle (in sea slugs) integrates stolen chloroplasts for animal photosynthesis

A host organelle integrates stolen chloroplasts for animal photosynthesis

Sea slugs steal foreign chloroplasts and store them in specialized organelles that facilitate photosynthesis and eventual digestion to mediate starvation resistance.

www.cell.com

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Peter Andersen @germline.bsky.social · 21d

On my way to Paris and am so(!) looking forward to this visit..

… and to the crepe I will have tonight. And tomorrow night. And..

Institut Jacques Monod @ijmonod.bsky.social · 21d

📢 Institut Jacques Monod Seminar

📅 September 18th
📍 Institut Jacques Monod

Tomorrow, Peter Andersen ( @germline.bsky.social ) will give the Institut Jacques Monod Seminar "Running to stand still – Recurrent innovation of animal germline genome regulation"

➡️ buff.ly/OiDEocK

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Reposted by Peter Andersen

Julius Brennecke @juliusbrennecke.bsky.social · 21d

Dream collaboration with the groups of Torben Heick Jensen (@heick.bsky.social; @au.dk) and Clemens Plaschka (@impvienna.bsky.social). Building in part on the incredible work from Ulrich Hohmann on human mRNA export.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A molecular switch orchestrates the nuclear export of human messenger RNA

The nuclear export of messenger RNA (mRNA) is a key step in eukaryotic gene expression ([Köhler and Hurt, 2007][1]). Despite recent insights into the packaging of newly transcribed mRNAs into ribonucl...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Peter Andersen

Darren Obbard @darrenobbard.bsky.social · 22d

Another preprint from @pankajd.bsky.social !
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Predictors of protein evolution in the drosophilid immune system

The evolutionary dynamics of immune genes are shaped by diverse selective pressures, yet the relative roles of gene-level traits, functional specialization, and pathway context remain poorly understoo...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Peter Andersen

Karsten Rippe @karsten-rippe.bsky.social · Jul 11

Liquid-liquid phase separation of HP1? Not in our mouse fibroblasts… This paper by the Fabian Erdel group offers a fresh perspective on how this can be reconciled with seemingly conflicting reports: The phase separation propensity of HP1 decreases from yeast → fly → mouse. doi.org/10.1038/s414...

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Reposted by Peter Andersen

Jenny Chase @solarchase.bsky.social · 23d

Solar panels now cost peanuts (under 10 cents per W) in most of the world.

Carbon dioxide emissions in high-income countries are now falling, and there's reason to believe other countries will be able to develop much more sustainably than those did.

ourworldindata.org/grapher/annu...

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Reposted by Peter Andersen

Bjørn Panyella Pedersen @bjornppedersen.bsky.social · 22d

Interested in structural biology, membrane proteins, biophysics and working to understand hormone transport in plants?☘️🔬👩‍🔬🧪
We have an open PhD position:
- 3 years fully funded.
- Details and application link: www.linkedin.com/posts/plant-...
Please repost 💚

🚀 Exciting PhD opportunity in structural biology & plant science! 🌱 PhD Position – Structural and Functional Studies of Plant Membrane-Protein Transporters 📍 Molecular Biology & Genetics -… ...

🚀 Exciting PhD opportunity in structural biology & plant science! 🌱 PhD Position – Structural and Functional Studies of Plant Membrane-Protein Transporters 📍 Molecular Biology & Genetics - Aarhus Un...

www.linkedin.com

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Reposted by Peter Andersen

Maxim Greenberg @maxvcg.bsky.social · 23d

Very excited to share an excellent review from @teresa-urli.bsky.social, published one week before her PhD defense! We did a deep dive into the fascinating biology of the variant Polycomb complex, PRC1.6 (1/5) journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...

Epigenetic relay: Polycomb-directed DNA methylation in mammalian development

In mammals, repression of germline-specific gene expression is essential for preserving somatic cell identity and preventing disease. Germline gene silencing is often dependent on the presence of prom...

journals.plos.org

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