Tugce Aktas

Thank you André!

Congratulations to the entire team (l to r): Ibrahim Ilik, first authors Lisa Martina and Michal Malszycki and group leader Tuğçe Aktaş! Work is a collaboration with @ferhatay.bsky.social at the @lji.org and Cantas Alev at Kyoto University. -> Original Publication: doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

New paper in @cellpress.bsky.social by the Aktas lab @aktast.bsky.social! The scientists show that nuclear speckles help process RNA transcribed from dense regions of the genome, providing an answer to the long-standing question of speckle function.
Read more: www.molgen.mpg.de/news-2026-nu...

2 PhD candidates in my group: Michal @malszycki.bsky.social and Lisa led this work. We are very thankful to Ay lab ( @ferhatay.bsky.social ) and Alev lab (ASHBi, Kyoto), who helped make our story more complete. This work was funded by @dfg.de in the framework of @spp2202.bsky.social

Analysis of the evolution of this gene architecture and the presence of GC-rich isochores revealed that these features are specific to amniotes. By using the pA-RNA signal as a proxy for speckles we show the speckles are present in amniotes and absent in fish and invertebrates.

The short & GC-rich introns emerged in amniotes and were once long and GC-poor (in fish). The emergence of this gene architecture coincides with the expansion of SON’s IDRs. IDRs of SON are necessary and sufficient to form functional speckles.

Problems in splicing, due to SF3 complex dispersal, cause changes in gene expression, but only a small set of exons-introns are sensitive to speckles loss. These genes have introns with short & GC-rich architecture and are found in GC-rich isochores.

Differential gene expression analysis upon speckles loss reveals only genes within high GC chromatin domains are susceptible. The distance of the chromosomes 18 (lowest GC content) and 19 (highest GC content) from the speckles also indicate their speckle dependency.

Speckles take a large space in the human cell nucleus and form viscoelastic boundaries that restrict random chromatin movements. Upon speckles loss, the chromatin mobility increases and active(A) and inactive(B) chromatin compartments mix as shown by the Pore-C analysis by @ferhatay.bsky.social lab

Nuclear speckles are protein and RNA rich condensates that are proximal to GC-rich regions of the human genome. We dissolved speckles by rapidly depleting the 2 core proteins; SON & SRRM2 and investigated the role of speckles in: 1. 3D genome folding 2. transcription & splicing.

Our most recent work on the “function and evolution” of #nuclear-speckles is now online at Cell @cp-cell.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...
Read the thread👇 for the highlights of our findings.

I would like to hear your thoughts on something: paper accepted (Yay! 🥳) but we need to shorten it (like half) to get the final acceptance. We think it's going to be very dense and difficult to understand. Should we post the long version on e.g. our website or what should we do?

IMPRS-BAC Open Call: Current IMPRS student Marcel Wittmund talks about what pursuing a PhD means to him and how the IMPRS program supports his doctoral studies at the MPIMG.

Apply by Jan 7th, 2026! www.molgen.mpg.de/IMPRSPhDproj...

#IMPRSBAC @freieuniversitaet.bsky.social @maxplanck.de

Bioinformatician / Data Scientist (m/f/d) Bioinformatician / Data scientist position in the Aztekin Lab focusing on Structural Regeneration and support the working group together with the other members

🚀 Looking for a Bioinformatician / Data Scientist to join our crew and explore regeneration through single-cell genomics & evolutionary biology! @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social
📩 Questions? Contact us ✉️
🔗 Apply here: www.mpg.de/25243280/bio...

Legnini Group - Human Technopole Laboratory for Molecular and Systems Biology of RNA   The Legnini Group at Human Technopole combines molecular and systems biology approaches to study gene regulation. We use synthetic biology and opt...

Looking for a master student to help with a superexciting EU-funded project on mRNA metabolism. It'll involve cutting-edge sequencing and imaging techniques as well as computational workflows and modelling - great training opportunity! Get in touch if interested
humantechnopole.it/en/research-...

Transposon enthusiats: you don't want to miss this story.

Transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of transposable elements and their roles in development and disease Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, Published online: 30 June 2025; doi:10.1038/s41580-025-00867-8Transposable elements (TEs) comprise nearly half of the human genome. This Review discusses transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms that repress TE activity, how TEs escape this suppression and regulate endogenous genes in development and disease, and emerging therapeutic strategies that exploit TE derepression.

New Online! Transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of transposable elements and their roles in development and disease

With such a large scope you need excellent partners, so we are happy to have teamed up with @zz-zhang.bsky.social & @vincent-yangxu-phd.bsky.social

Transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of transposable elements and their roles in development and disease - Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology Transposable elements (TEs) comprise nearly half of the human genome. This Review discusses transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms that repress TE activity, how TEs escape this suppressio...

We wrote a review on Transposable Elements (TEs) and almost all aspects of TE silencing and their roles in biological processes & disease.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

📢 Don't miss!
Wayo Matsushima of École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) will speak at our #DahlemColloquium!
📜 Gene regulatory evolution driven by transposable elements and their controllers
📆 20. JUN, 11:00 AM (CET)
📍MPIMG, Berlin
🔗 www.molgen.mpg.de/events/41978...

In @nature.com Yaotian Zhang and @henriniskanen.bsky.social from the Hnisz Lab discovered a micropeptide, the "Killswitch," which alters the physical state of biomolecules in condensates. This tool solidifies dynamic, liquid-like droplets, affecting their function.
--> www.molgen.mpg.de/4884827

Congratulations neighbors!
We are very happy to be part of this story and looking forward to the future work we'll be doing with the Hnisz lab 😉

I wish you a speedy recovery 🙏

The awesome Helene Kretzmer and I are looking to recruit a join computational PhD student. Applications will be evaluated on a rolling basis, so don't wait! Any questions get in touch. We are looking forward.

iCLIP2, mapping protein-RNA interactions: from A to Z RNA is increasingly recognized as a key therapeutic target , driving the development of RNA-based therapeutics for a broad spectrum of diseases. RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) play a fundamental ro…

How to find binding sites or your favorite #RNA binding protein?

Join us for the EMBO practical course "iCLIP2, mapping protein RNA interactions: from A to Z". from 7.-12. September in Genoa, Italy

Learn more and register here:
meetings.embo.org/event/25-icl...

@embo.org @mixmue.bsky.social

CSH-Asia "The Repetitive and Mobile Genome" meeting announcement poster

Don't miss the first edition of the CSH-Asia meeting on "The Repetitive and Mobile Genome" taking place in Suzhou, China.
📅 Abstract submission deadline extended: Feb 21, 2025
👉 www.csh-asia.org?content/2544
#transposon #mobileDNA #TEsky

Thank you 🤓

CSH Asia is organising its first transposon meeting. Don't miss out on some great science and a fantastic trip. Abstract deadline fast approaching.
www.csh-asia.org?content/2544

🎉 Excited to announce job openings in our new lab @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social in Tübingen!🇩🇪Looking for enthusiastic colleagues to explore regeneration together! We have positions for:
🔬 Research Technician
💻 Bioinformatician
🎓 PhD Studentship
🧪🔬📖 Postdocs
Details and links below👇

We are very happy to have Zack with us. Looking forward to all the cool transposons related projects we will be doing together.