Tadasu Nozaki

RPA directly stimulates Mer3/HFM1 helicase processivity to ensure normal crossover formation in meiosis Meiotic crossover formation is critical for generating viable gametes and enhancing genetic diversity. The helicase Mer3 (HFM1 in humans) is a highly conserved factor essential for promoting crossover...

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

We found a new asymmetry in the large-scale chromosome structure: sister chromatids are systematically shifted by hundreds of kb in the 5′→3′ direction of their inherited strands! The work was led by Flavia Corsi, in close collaboration with the Daniel Gerlich lab.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
1/

Dynamic chromosomes

Saccharomycopsis yichangensis sp. nov., a Novel Predacious Yeast Species Isolated From Soil Saccharomycopsis yichangensis sp. nov. occurs in soil from a subtropical forest in central China. This novel species is homothallic and produces asci containing four spheroidal ascospores, which can ...

In the latest #Yeast research article of the series #FantasticYeasts, Pei-Jie Han, Feng-Yan Bai & team describe a new yeast species isolated from a Chinese forest: Saccharomycopsis yichangensis, that can prey on Saccharomyces cerevisiae and other yeasts 😲

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Please see our latest paper on the role of EXO1 in meiosis: "EXO1 promotes the meiotic MLH1-MLH3 endonuclease through conserved interactions with MLH1, MSH4 and DNA". Congratulations to both first authors, Megha Roy and Aurore Sanchez and thanks to all our collaborators!

🧬My retrospective chromatin review is out @Proc Jpn Acad:
doi.org/10.2183/pjab...
The textbook view of #chromatin as 30-nm fibers is fading.
A new paradigm: chromatin forms #liquid-like domains—locally dynamic, yet globally stable at the chromosome level (viscoelastic)—supporting genome function. ✨

A blutorial on my latest manuscript, which will appear as a Hypothesis article in Journal of Cell Science (no embargo requested as far as I am aware). If you are interested in mitosis/meiosis/kinetochores/evolution/deep phylogeny, please read it (1/n)

New open access review from Jon Harper and George Brown—charting the evolutionary history of Spo11 and its regulation.
portlandpress.com/biochemsoctr... #meiosis4eva

I’m pleased to announce that I have now officially started my research group at the University of Dundee, UK. My laboratory focus on how transcription factors orchestrate epigenetic reprogramming in mammalian embryos.

Excited to share our latest work on how cells fold their genomes, and build mitotic chromosomes! Out in Science today!

Lots of interesting results and proposals for those interested in loop extrusion, and chromosomes!

With @golobor.bsky.social, Leonid Mirny, Bill Earnshaw labs.

See thread below:

James Berger will Deliver the Paul Doty Lecture on April 10 - Harvard University - Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology This year, James M Berger, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine will return to Harvard to present the Doty Lecture, “Still Unscrambling the Puzzle of Biological Machines: […]

James M. Berger will Deliver the Paul Doty Lecture on April 10
www.mcb.harvard.edu/department/n... @rachellegaudet.bsky.social @dulaclab.bsky.social @neurovenki.bsky.social @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social @rivaselenarivas.bsky.social @fleshball.bsky.social @jeeyunc.bsky.social @hekstralab.bsky.social

(1/2) Glad to inform that our work is finally out from Science Advances!
Our Repli-Histo labeling revealed the distinct physical properties of euchromatin (liquid-like) and heterochromatin (gel-like) and their implications for replication timing.

Our new paper is out@ScienceAdvances👇
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
🧬Our Repli-Histo labeling marks nucleosomes in euchromatin and heterochromatin in live human cells.
🔍 @katsuminami.bsky.social et al. have developed a chromatin behavior atlas within the nucleus. 1/2

Check out our review on DNA end resection! With Raphael Ceccaldi, www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Countdown to an epic new pre-print.

Mitochondria are cells within our cells. They need the same core activities - replication, transcription, translation. How do cells enable these diverse activities in both compartments? We uncover an unexpected + broad strategy with ancient origins. Stay tuned!

Our new findings on how chromosomes get ready for cell division are now published in @cellpress.bsky.social!

Congratulations, Kai, @andibrunner.bsky.social and everyone else involved! 🤩

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

Fluorescence microscopy images showing a diplonema cell

There are ~180 chromosomes in this diplonemid, which organize into two rings during mitosis. Chromosomal passenger complex proteins localize in between the rings. Indirect evidence suggests that the cell is in metaphase but the two rings are separated by up to 1 µm. How are they connected?

I am happy to share a preprint on the marine plankton project I started one year ago (thanks to Julius and Drahomira's help)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Cryo-ET visualization of chromatin at the nucleosome level in RPE-1 cells arrested in G1 phase and metaphase.

Cryotomograms of a metaphase RPE-1 cell.

3-D class averages of mononucleosomes and ordered stacked dinucleosomes in G1 and metaphase.

Happy that Jon Chen @jonchenjk.bsky.social's cryo-ET and confocal study of RPE-1 chromatin in situ is online www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.1038/s44318-025-00407-2
Congrats also to coauthors Tingsheng Liu, @shujuncai.bsky.social, Cai Tong Ng, Jian Shi and collaborators Weimei Ruan Uttam Surana.

NEW #research from the Zanders Lab & Halfmann Lab in @plos.org shows how selfish genes “cheat” inheritance to ensure they’re passed to the next generation. Learn how the discovery could help scientists better understand #fertility & #neurodegeneration. Learn more: bit.ly/41uOr8V

WATCH: (part 1/3)

We are finally published in HCB journal!
My sincere gratitude to all co-authors who made it possible, and separate thanks to my supervisor, Dr. Kazuhiro Maeshima, for his strong initiative to reporting our important findings!
PDF link: rdcu.be/dHXJF

Our (@jeffsekelsky.bsky.social, Corbin Jones, & me) #Meiosis, Recombination & Evolution of Sex class @uncchapelhill.bsky.social loved talking w/ Bengt Hansson from @lund-university.bsky.social about his lab's #G3journal paper on bird male-biased CO patterning + new work: doi.org/10.1093/g3jo...

In this wonderful collaboration with K Maeshima and M Shimazoe we show that H1 in living cells acts as a liquid-like glue not a driver of stiff zigzag fibers 🔥🔥🔥 Each H1 bridges multiple nucleosomes and exchanges nucleosomes frequently: boosting both compaction and dynamical behaviour of chromatin

Our new preprint is out＠bioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@masaashimazoe.bsky.social et al. reveal that linker histone H1 acts as a liquid-like glue to organize chromatin in living cells. 🎉 Fantastic collab with @rcollepardo.bsky.social @janhuemar.bsky.social and others—huge thanks! 🙌 1/

DIC and cryo-ET images of G1 and G0 fission yeast cells.

Zhi Yang Tan & @shujuncai.bsky.social's comparative study of G0 (quiescent) and interphase fission yeast cells is out in @jcellsci.bsky.social doi.org/10.1242/jcs.263654. This study combines multiple cell-biological analyses with in situ cryo-ET. Raw data: www.ebi.ac.uk/empiar/EMPIAR-10339

Telomeric transposons are pervasive in linear bacterial genomes Eukaryotes have linear DNA and their telomeres are hotspots for transposons, which in some cases took over telomere maintenance. Here we identify several families of independently evolved telomeric tr...

Telomeric transposons are pervasive in linear bacterial genomes | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Meiosis-specific distal cohesion site decoupled from the kinetochore - Nature Communications In general, the kinetochore position and the sister-chromatid cohesion site are spatially linked. Here, the authors find a meiosis-specific distal cohesion site decoupled from the kinetochore in Perom...

New Akera's lab paper! Congrats @takashiakeralab.bsky.social and Eddie!

Parasitic plasmids are anchored to inactive regions of eukaryotic chromosomes through a nucleosome signal | The EMBO Journal imageimageThe naturally occurring S. cerevisiae 2µ plasmid is one of few documented cases of eukaryotic plasmids, undergoing equal distribution between mother and daughter cells during mitosis. Using ...

Are you curious about eukaryotic plasmids?
PhD student Fabien Girard with Axel Cournac in the lab explore the positioning of plasmid 2u, one of these rare (known) episomes, in the budding yeast nucleus. The results were surprising.
#plasmids #chromatin #3Dgenome

www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

EccDNA atlas in male mice reveals features protecting genes against transcription-induced eccDNA formation Nature Communications - Extrachromosomal circular DNA (eccDNA) can drive cancer and other age-related diseases. Here, Liang et al. present an atlas of eccDNA in mammals, and demonstrate that the...

🔖 New collaborative work!
It has been fun to team up with Birgitte Regenberg’s group in University of Copenhagen to explore the biology of #circularDNA

👉Now in @naturecomms.bsky.social

rdcu.be/eaQsp