Kelly Dawe @corncolors.bsky.social · 1hThe UGA Genetics Department is hiring! Please help spread the word. We have an opening for an Associate Professor/Professor in Genetics, Synthetic Biology, and Biological Engineering. See ad for details – and join us here in Athens, GA! 0720
Kelly Dawe @corncolors.bsky.social · 16/10/2025The UGA Plant Biology Department is hiring! Please help spread the word. We have an opening for an Assistant Professor in Plant Synthetic Biology for Strategic Resources Research. See ad for details – and join us here in Athens, GA! 01013
Reposted by Kelly DaweMSU Plant Resilience Institute @msupri.bsky.social · 08/10/2025We're excited to welcome Christopher Topp to the Plant Resilience Institute! Dr. Topp uses powerful imaging tools to envision the future of sustainable agriculture, and he will soon bring his expertise in root biology to MSU. Read the full story: plantresilience.msu.edu/pri-news/202... 32413
Reposted by Kelly DaweChris Dundas @cmdundas.bsky.social · 20/05/2025Open faculty position in computational plant synthetic biology at @universityofga.bsky.social Dept. of Crop & Soil Sciences. Join us in Athens and be a part of UGA's emerging Institute of Synthetic Biology! 👉 Apply: www.ugajobsearch.com/postings/429... #SynBio #PlantScience #FacultyJobsugajobsearch.comAssistant or Associate Professor (Open Rank) - Plant Synthetic Biology and Technology DevelopmentThe University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (UGA CAES) seeks a visionary scientist to lead innovative research in designing and developing computational tools, methodo... 11012
Reposted by Kelly DaweIan Henderson @hendersi.bsky.social · 30/04/2025Two CENH3 paralogs in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii have a redundantly essential function and associate with ZeppL-LINE1 elements onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... beautiful insights into the Chlamy LINE-based centromeres from the Umen and Dawe groups @corncolors.bsky.socialonlinelibrary.wiley.comTwo CENH3 paralogs in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii have a redundantly essential function and associate with ZeppL‐LINE1 elementsHistone H3 variant CENP-A/CENH3 is a conserved centromere protein in eukaryotes but has not been well characterized in green algae. Our data establish the function of CENH3 at Chlamydomonas centromer.... 0185
Reposted by Kelly DawePlantEvolution 🌱🌾 @plantevolution.bsky.social · 05/05/2025Amazing study from Jill Anderson, Megan Demarche and colleagues, integrating species distribution models, reciprocal transplants, snow manipulation and more to test whether a montane plant can adapt to climate change. The sad answer: not without human intervention. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 08424
Reposted by Kelly DaweHarmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 28/02/2025Five weeks into what has been a constant onslaught on science, working on a paper seems like such a privilege, which many of our recently fired colleagues no longer have. And a rebellious act. But mostly it's self-care. (Give yourself permission to turn off the news for the weekend.) 620824
Kelly Dawe @corncolors.bsky.social · 18/02/2025The National Science Foundation is one of America's most precious gems 0176
Kelly Dawe @corncolors.bsky.social · 07/02/2025Yibing Zeng used synthetic centromeres to break chromosome 4 into two separate chromosomes (4a and 4b), raising the diploid chromosome number of maize from 20 to 22. The resulting plants grew and reproduced normally. We call this process engineered chromosome fission www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...biorxiv.orgIncreased maize chromosome number by engineered chromosome fissionActivation of synthetic centromeres on chromosome 4 in maize leads to its breakage and formation of trisomic fragments called neochromosomes. A limitation of neochromosomes is their low and unpredicta... 0186
Kelly Dawe @corncolors.bsky.social · 07/02/2025Meghan Brady showed that one of the kinesins (Trkin) on the Ab10 meiotic drive haplotype does not serve a useful function in drive or fitness. Anjali Gupta and Rob Unckless used modeling to show that Ab10 Trkin should not persist. Something strange is going on www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...biorxiv.orgAntagonistic kinesin-14s within a single chromosomal drive haplotypeIn maize, there are two meiotic drive systems that operate on large tandem repeat arrays called knobs that are found on chromosome arms. One meiotic drive haplotype, Abnormal chromosome 10 (Ab10), enc... 011
Kelly Dawe @corncolors.bsky.social · 07/02/2025Rebecca Piri showed that the maize centromere repeat CentC likely does not have a role in centromere function, whereas knob repeat arrays (involved in meiotic drive) have conserved higher order repeats (HORs) and huge repeat units of ~1 Mb that are shared among knobs www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...biorxiv.orgHigher order repeat structures reflect diverging evolutionary paths in maize centromeres and knobsBackground Highly repetitive tandem repeat arrays, known as satellite DNAs, are frequently found in low recombination regions such as centromeres. Satellite arrays often contain complex internal struc... 032
Kelly Dawe @corncolors.bsky.social · 07/02/2025I am pleased to introduce three papers from our lab this week, describing the structure of repeat arrays, the fitness effects of a key meiotic drive gene, and karyotype engineering. 141
