Melania Bruno

📣Huge congrats to our postdoc, Takaya Totsuka, on his new paper @currentbiology.bsky.social 🎉 He found that Ca2+ oscillations regulate oocyte spindle rotation! 🐭The project started during his PhD with Prof. Miho Ohsugi.

Free link: authors.elsevier.com/c/1lUqk3QW8S...

Young KRAB-zinc finger gene clusters are highly dynamic incubators of ERV-driven genetic heterogeneity in mice - Nature Communications KRAB-zinc finger proteins repress retrotransposons and rapidly evolve in mammals. Here, the authors show that ERV insertions drive the emergence and diversification of new KZFP genes in mice, revealin...

Having a lot of fun at #EMBOMobileGenome 😃
Perfect timing for our paper from the lab of @toddmacfarlan.bsky.social to be out @natcomms.nature.com!!

…and I’m currently on the job market looking for a new scientific home!

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

Programmed meiotic errors facilitate dichotomous sperm production in the silkworm, Bombyx mori The goal of meiosis is typically to produce haploid gametes (eggs or sperm). Failure to do so is catastrophic for fertility and offspring health. However, Lepidopteran (moths and butterflies) males pr...

So excited to share this preprint from the Rosin lab in collaboration with the Hawley lab and @eelcotromer.bsky.social on moth spermatogenesis! We investigate the meiotic errors that occur during the formation of apyrene sperm (that have no DNA) in silkworms!

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

🚨Our latest work on selfish centromeres is published @currentbiology.bsky.social 🐭🧬We found that the spindle checkpoint contributes to non-Mendelian segregation! Huge congrats to our lab manager, Zaak Walton, who led the project🎉

Free link:
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lQzN3QW8S...

Enhancer adoption by an LTR retrotransposon generates viral-like particles, causing developmental limb phenotypes - Nature Genetics Activation of an LTR retrotransposon inserted upstream of the Fgf8 gene produces viral-like particles in the mouse developing limb, triggering apoptosis and causing limb malformation. This phenotype c...

Finally out! 🥳 Our paper showing how a transposable element (TE) insertion can cause developmental phenotypes is now published @natgenet.nature.com 🧬🦠🐁
Below is a brief description of the major findings. Check the full version of the paper for more details: www.nature.com/articles/s41588-025-02248-5

OGT prevents DNA demethylation and suppresses the expression of transposable elements in heterochromatin by restraining TET activity genome-wide Nature Structural & Molecular Biology - Here the authors show that the disruption of OGT expression in mouse embryonic stem cells unleashes TET activity, causing genome-wide decreases in DNA...

Our study with Anjana Rao's lab was just published at NSMB 🥳 Shows how OGT prevents TET proteins from activating retrotransposons, particularly those in heterochromatin. Paper has 6-base and ONT sequencing data from OGT iKO mESCs, and also interesting OGT inhibitor data 👀.

rdcu.be/efuho

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!

Huge thanks to all our collaborators for their help and for sharing expertise and data! This work would not have been possible otherwise!

Our analyses also support a model by which new invading ERVs that landed at young KZFP gene clusters likely promoted the expansion and diversification of the KZFP gene repertoire in mice, by facilitating non-allelic homologous recombination events and large segmental duplications

By combining multiple long-read sequencing technologies, we achieved a first detailed comparative analysis of young KZFP gene clusters in the mouse lineage, revealing a previously underestimated heterogeneity of these loci between mouse strains and species

I’m excited to share a new preprint from some of my work in the lab of @toddmacfarlan.bsky.social ! 😄

We dived into young KZFP gene clusters in different mouse strains and species to uncover mechanisms that facilitated their evolution and diversification in mice

Thank you Christa!!