Dame lab at Leiden University

Now online: Pingzhuang Ge's studies on the impact of pH on local chromatin structure and transcriptional activity of the H-NS-regulated hdeAB operon www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Mark your calendars for the next incarnation of the Biology and Physics of the Prokaryotic Chromosome meeting to be held in Paris on July 6-9, 2027.

See the web site for further information biophychrom2027.sciencesconf.org

PDB101: Molecule of the Month: Histones Across the Tree of Life Uncovering the evolutionary diversity of histones

pdb101.rcsb.org/motm/314

Mashaghi Lab - Vacancies Community science: Since 1996, Alireza Mashaghi has actively advocated for collaborations between disciplines to explore new ways of addressing scientific and societal challenges. The team has a long...

My laboratory has an open postdoctoral position in the field of biomolecular condensate mechanochemistry! Please inquire if you are interested in interdisciplinary, cutting-edge research!

www.mashaghilab.org/vacancies
(Deadline: February 8, 2026)

#ChemSky #Mechanobiology #Biomolecular_Condensate

Great work by PhD student Samuel Schwab @samuelschwab.bsky.social. Many thanks for Tim Jansen and Michel Olsthoorn for getting the database online.

I am very pleased to share that our database of prokaryotic and viral histones, ProHistoneDB, is now available online at prohistonedb.org. Please also see the accompanying article in J Mol Biol: doi.org/10.1016/j.jm...

We invite contributions to a special issue on "Chromatin Structure and Function in Bacteria and Archaea," edited by Ilaria Baglivo and me. See: www.mdpi.com/si/264656

Archaeal histone HTkC hypercompacts DNA Histones are important organizers of chromatin in eukaryotes and archaea. In eukaryotes, the core histones assemble with DNA to form the octameric nucleosome. In archaea, histones form hypernucleosome...

I am very pleased to share our newest work on the face-to-face histone HTkC, which plays an important role in chromatin organization next to canonical histones HTkA and HTkB

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Very nice Preview written by @danielabarilla.bsky.social of the article on Asgard archaeal hypernucleosomes by @harshranawat.bsky.social @dodonova-sveta.bsky.social et al.

Let’s wrap things up: Open and closed hypernucleosomes in Asgard archaea Asgard archaea are widely considered the closest living relatives of eukaryotes. In this issue of Molecular Cell, Ranawat et al. report high-resolution structures of hypernucleosomes formed by the hodarchaeal HHoB histone, disclosing open and closed chromatin conformations.

Let’s wrap things up: Open and closed hypernucleosomes in Asgard archaea

Thanks a lot, Harsh!

Modulation of archaeal hypernucleosome structure and stability by Mg2+ DNA-wrapping histone proteins play a central role in chromatin organization, gene expression and regulation in most eukaryotes and archaea. While the …

New article online: Modulation of archaeal hypernucleosome structure and stability by Mg2+

In this work, we dissect the effects of Mg2+ on hypernucleosomes formed by the canonical histones from M. fervidus (HMfA and HMfB) and T. kodakarensis (HTkA and HTkB).

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Soon available in my group: 1 PhD position to investigate prokaryotic histones. See our recent work that highlights the existence and diversity of prokaryotic histones (e.g. Schwab et al., TIBS, 2025; Schwab et al., Nat Comm, 2024; Hu et al., Nucl Acids Res, 2024). Please DM for informal enquiries.

Lab’s first paper is out!! We show the first structures of #Asgard #chromatin by #cryo-EM 🧬❄️
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

Group photo

That’s a wrap for The Biology and Physics of Prokaryotic Chromosomes VII 2025. A big thank you to all those who attended 🧪 #BioPhyChrom2025 #BiochemEvents

Tomorrow is the start of Biology and Physics of Prokaryotic Chromosomes VII. Great speakers and participants. Excellent support by the Biochem. Society. @biochemsoc.bsky.social
@danielabarilla.bsky.social @vslioy.bsky.social
@graingerlab.bsky.social
@damelab.bsky.social
#BioPhyChrom2025

DNA bridging has also been established as a DNA binding mode shared by many architectural proteins across the domains of life, with DNA bridging histone proteins in archaea as latest highlight.

Research in many different labs has revealed that DNA bridging is key to many of its functions in vivo. 2.5 decades later novel functions of H-NS and mechanisms of functional modulation are still being discovered.

H-NS mediated compaction of DNA visualised by atomic force microscopy Abstract. The Escherichia coli H-NS protein is a nucleoid-associated protein involved in gene regulation and DNA compaction. To get more insight into the m

Time flies .. it is today 25 years ago that we published our studies that revealed that bacterial H-NS is a DNA bridging protein:
academic.oup.com/nar/article/... @narjournal.bsky.social

One week to go for The Biology & Physics of Chromosomes VII, but there is still time to register!
Join us! 🧬🧬🧬

@biophychrom.bsky.social @biochemsoc.bsky.social @vslioy.bsky.social @graingerlab.bsky.social @damelab.bsky.social

Supervisors and Projects

Please re-post: If you know (or are!) somebody who might fancy doing a PhD (Oct 2026 start) in my group @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social, working on chromatin evolution in prokaryotes (or other things we're interested in), please have a look at www.bioch.ox.ac.uk/supervisors-...

Talk slots full but we can take late breaking poster abstracts until August 7th. Hope to see you in York to hear about your chromosome story 🧬🦠🧫

www.eventsforce.net/biochemsoc/f...

@vslioy.bsky.social @damelab.bsky.social @graingerlab.bsky.social @biochemsoc.bsky.social @biophychrom.bsky.social

Great to see it published, Daniela!

Poster advertising the Biology and Physics of Prokaryotic Chromosomes conference that will be held in York, 16-19 September 2025.

Just few days left to register for this chromosome biology fête! 🧬🧬🧬

⏳📆 16 July

www.eventsforce.net/biochemsoc/f...

@vslioy.bsky.social @damelab.bsky.social @graingerlab.bsky.social @biochemsoc.bsky.social @biophychrom.bsky.social

The role of nucleoid-associated proteins in mediating responses to environmental changes Bacteria face diverse environmental challenges, such as changes in temperature, pH, and osmolarity, and exposure to antibiotics, which necessitate ada…

I am pleased to share our new review on the role of bacterial nucleoid-aasociated proteins in mediating responses to changes in environment. Important: some NAPs can directly ‘sense’ physico-chemical changes. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @pingzhuangge.bsky.social

York calling! 📣 🧬🧬🧬

Join us at www.biochemistry.org/events-and-t...

⏳⏰ Early bird deadline approaching soon, 16 July! Do not miss out! Half of the talks selected from abstracts.
@damelab.bsky.social @vslioy.bsky.social @graingerlab.bsky.social @biochemsoc.bsky.social @biophychrom.bsky.social

Histone-mediated chromatin organization in prokaryotes and viruses Histones are fundamental chromatin-organizing proteins in eukaryotes and archaea, where they assemble into (hyper)nucleosomes that wrap DNA. Recent studies have expanded the known repertoire of histon...

A must-read for histone afficionados: our new review on 'Histone-mediated chromatin organization in prokaryotes and viruses' www.cell.com/trends/bioch... @samuelschwab.bsky.social @vikramalva.bsky.social

Flyer advertising The Biology and Physics of Prokaryotic Chromosome conference that will be held in York, 16-19 September 2025.

Chromosome Enthusiasts, join us at The Biology & Physics of Prokaryotic Chromosomes 🧬! Friendly community, fantastic speakers line-up, grant writing session for ECRs. Early-bird deadline approaching soon.
@damelab.bsky.social @vslioy.bsky.social @graingerlab.bsky.social @biophychrom.bsky.social

We’ve uncovered Asgard chromatin structures formed by a Hodarchaeal histone : closed hypernucleosome conserved in archaea and an open form resembling the H3-H4 eukaryotic octasome. Fantastic work by @harshranawat.bsky.social!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#Chromatin #Asgard #Archaea #cryoEM