Matthias Soller

Public access to the first fly connectome that spans the whole CNS - BANC!: codex.flywire.ai?dataset=banc

Different from prior connectomes - it is brain + cord (think spinal cord)

We use it to ‘embody’ the system and find it resembles ‘subsumption architecture’ doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Mitochondrial origins of the pressure to sleep - Nature Research on Drosophila neurons shows links between the need to sleep and aerobic metabolism, indicating that the pressure to sleep may have a mitochondrial origin.

Nice work: Sleep - a consequence of aerobic metabolism?
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I wouldn't trust your App.

I guess it is a chicken of the woods - delicious if young.

maybe, but it doesn't get more tender.

We are looking for 2 postdocs to join my lab at Sussex University in Brighton, UK (South of London, on the sea). One position is for a molecular/cell biologist, the other, for a neurobiologist/behavioural person. Drosophila experience desirable. Flyer w/more info below. Please repost. Thank you!

Dynamically expressed single ELAV/Hu orthologue elavl2 of bees is required for learning and memory - Communications Biology Ustaoglu, Gill, et al. investigate the role of the single copy of the elav/Hu family gene in honeybees in learning and memory. RNAi knockdown of elavl2 demonstrates a role in learning and memory, and ...

And the regulators of microexons: ELAV/Hu proteins have conserved alternative splicing.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Regulated microexon alternative splicing in single neurons tunes synaptic function | EMBO reports imageimageAlternative splicing of a conserved microexon in the unc-13 synaptic gene is regulated by a pair of cell-specific RNA binding proteins. Microexon-included and microexon-skipped isoforms are ...

The importance of being small: only microexons are conserved between vertebrates and invertebrates.
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

🚨🚨🚨

Please RT!

We're looking for a postdoc to join an exciting joint project between our lab @upf.edu & @crg.eu (Barcelona) and the Sander lab @mdc-berlin.bsky.social (Berlin) investigating how alternative splicing and microexons influences the maturation of pancreatic islets.

Deadline: 30/09/25👇

Another reason to consider HaloTag as an alternative to GFP for tagging

Disruption of the mRNA m6A writer complex triggers autoimmunity in Arabidopsis Distinguishing self from non-self is crucial to direct immune responses against pathogens. Unmodified RNAs stimulate human innate immunity, but RNA modifications suppress this response. mRNA m6A modif...

New preprint from us!
We find that disruption of the mRNA m6A writer complex triggers autoimmunity in Arabidopsis –
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A male-essential miRNA is key for avian sex chromosome dosage compensation - Nature Birds have evolved a unique sex chromosome dosage compensation mechanism involving the male-biased microRNA (miR-2954), which is essential for male survival by regulating the expression of dosage-sens...

To keep the dose: A miRNA does it in birds!
Fascinating diversity of sex determination and dosage compensation mechanisms.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Exactly!

RNA codon expansion via programmable pseudouridine editing and decoding - Nature An RNA codon-expansion strategy enables incorporation of non-canonical amino acids into proteins of interest orthogonally to existing methods by inserting pseudouridine codons into specific mRNA trans...

Beyond a STOP - cool story on expanding protein coding.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Love RNA biology and care about reproducibility? I’m co-editing a @bio-protocol.bsky.social special issue with @marionhogg.bsky.social & Renate Weizbauer —focusing open access and transparent RNA detection protocols.
Submit yours today - en.bio-protocol.org/content17
#OpenScience #ReproRNAbiology

Excited to share our latest work! We found transcription factor SPT6 and phosphorylated Pol II CTD help recruit U1 snRNP to elongating Pol II, allowing efficient co-transcriptional splicing.

Glad to be featured in the Editors’ Highlights!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#splicing #cryoEM

Figure 2. Overview of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) decay pathways. m6A acts as a destabilizing mark on mRNA.

"m6A in the coding sequence: linking deposition, translation and decay"
by Kathi Zarnack (@zarnack-group.bsky.social) & colleagues

"This review explores [m6A in] mRNA decay, with a focus on the newly discovered CDS–m6A decay (CMD) pathway..."

Read it here:
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

Return from extinction of a very special creature - without "Colossal Bioscience", but hard conservation work.

There is more - at the end!
Exciting finding about conservation in 3'UTRs.

9 month Research Associate in fly CASK Neuroscience and Disease Models in Hodge lab (Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Bristol University) available:
www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find-in...
Fixed term until 30/04/2026
£38,249 - £44,128 per annum
Deadline 17th July.
Interviews 11th August.

Audience seated in a conference room listening to a speaker presenting at the Translation UK 2025 event at University of Edinburgh.

#TLUK25 finishing strong! This morning we heard from those with emerging topics within the Translation field. We would like to thank all attendees for their amazing engagement - we will see you next year.

Fascinating animals - masters of RNA editing!

I am extremely happy for this nice RNA Society Member Spotlight written by Dr. Maxime Wery and edited by Dr. Jennifer Porat, thanks to @Paula Groza
@umeauniversitet.bsky.social

www.rnasociety.org/dr--francesc...

Daniel J.C. Kronauer Interview with Daniel Kronauer, who studies the evolution and function of insect societies at Rockefeller University.

Check out our latest issue where we interview @danielkronauer.bsky.social, who studies the evolution and function of insect societies at Rockefeller University. www.cell.com/current-biol...

An RNA Splicing System that Excises Transposons from Animal mRNAs All genomes harbor mobile genetic parasites called transposable elements (TEs). Here we describe a system, which we term SOS splicing, that protects C. elegans and human genes from DNA transposon-medi...

Cool story - SOS splicing to remove transposons in mRNA! Though not by the spliceosome.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Hi there - join us!

A lot of unnecessary administration to make administration look like necessary for the sake of fat salaries. There used to be times when academics had the say.

New paper from our lab! Fabulous and brilliant @carlosalfonsog.bsky.social and @shimengjin.bsky.social, together with fantastic co-authors, show that the neuronal protein ELAV promotes biogenesis of circular RNAs in the brain. This happens through inhibition of forward ("classical") splicing.

Registration is now ✨open✨ for the 2025 Eukaryotic RNA turnover meeting, this year in Brighton, UK 🏖️☀️ www.biochemistry.org/events-and-t... Lots of great invited speakers and @biochemsoc.bsky.social bursaries for student/postdoc attendees who register early!

No surprise ELAV is part of it: The only conserved alternatively spliced exon between insects and vertebrates is in ELAV genes.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...