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Xiao Dong

@justdx.bsky.social
32 followers 11 following 5 posts

PhD candidate at MPIPZ

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Reposted by Xiao Dong
Schneeberger Lab @labschneeberger.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Thrilled to share our new @nature.com paper from Xiao Dong on the mutational dynamics of centromeres in Arabidopsis thaliana! 🌱 A quick thread on what we found... 🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s415...
doi.org
The mutational dynamics of the Arabidopsis centromeres - Nature
Centromeres in Arabidopsis thaliana evolve through frequent insertions and deletions of repeat units and increased rates of point mutations driven by homology-directed repair, a mutation spectrum that...
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Reposted by Xiao Dong
PlantEvolution 🌱🌾 @plantevolution.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Awesome new work from @labschneeberger.bsky.social (with a small contribution from the Weigel lab). Experimentally observed mutational patterns in centromeres underpin a model that recapitulates intra-specific centromere divergence! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Xiao Dong @justdx.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
5/ Our work suggests centromere evolution follows a unique mutational path, dominated by small, local events with massive structural consequences. 📄 Read the preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025... #genomics #bioRxiv #centromere #Arabidopsis
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Xiao Dong @justdx.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
4/ Simulations using just these small mutations recreated large-scale repeat structures, like higher-order repeats and long-range homology. Big architecture from tiny edits.
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Xiao Dong @justdx.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
3/ Key findings: • Point mutations occur 9× faster in centromeres than elsewhere • Non-allelic gene conversions copy sequences between repeats • In-frame indels preserve repeat structure → All without large rearrangements
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Xiao Dong @justdx.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
2/ Centromeres are full of repetitive satellite DNA, often megabases long, but how do they evolve? Using Arabidopsis mutation accumulation lines, we tracked real-time mutation patterns in these regions.
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Xiao Dong @justdx.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
1/ 🚨 My first PhD preprint is out on bioRxiv! We show how tiny mutations—point mutations and kb-level indels—can shape the massive structure of Arabidopsis centromeres. 📄 Read it here: doi.org/10.1101/2025... 🧵 A short thread 👇
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