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Domenico Modaffari

@dmodaffari.bsky.social

Domenico Modaffari @dmodaffari.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

To end, my favorite experiment from this paper. Poly(A)-binding protein (Pab1) puncta are readily visible in many filamentous fungi, but when we tagged the Pab1 ortholog in A. nidulans we could not see them. Using FRAP, we found they were obscured by a bright cytosolic signal! [7/7]

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Domenico Modaffari @dmodaffari.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

This tip-proximal depletion depends on NDR kinase CotA. Acute inhibition of an analog-sensitive CotA allele causes SsdA puncta to accumulate near tips. A nonphosphorylatable SsdA mutant shows the same phenotype. [4/7]

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Domenico Modaffari @dmodaffari.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

SsdA puncta are largely depleted near hyphal tips, despite early endosomes being abundant in the same region. We found that the extent of this depletion correlates with hyphal growth rate. [3/7]

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Domenico Modaffari @dmodaffari.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

SsdA puncta hitchhike on early endosomes via PxdA and DipA, adaptors previously characterized for peroxisome hitchhiking. This raises the possibility that they serve as a adaptors for different types of cargo. (SsdA in magenta and early endosomes in green) [2/7]

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Domenico Modaffari @dmodaffari.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Happy to share that the bulk of my PhD work is now on bioRxiv! We followed SsdA, the A. nidulans ortholog of yeast RNA-binding protein Ssd1, and found it forms motile mRNP puncta in hyphae. [1/7] www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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