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Rebecca Berrens

@rberrens.bsky.social
2.3K followers 1.2K following 57 posts

Group leader of transposon group in Oxford at IDRM. #new_pi sites.google.com/view/berrenslab

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Reposted by Rebecca Berrens
Geoff Faulkner @faulknerlab.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
I wrote peer review comments for a recent bioRxiv preprint from the SMaHT consortium @smahtnetwrk.bsky.social here: hyp.is/YZCCeKp1EfGb... Consortium is a $140M USD NIH Common Fund initiative to deeply sequence human tissues. I hope the comments, mainly on the mobile DNA part, are useful. #TEsky
hyp.is
Hypothesis annotation for www.biorxiv.org
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Rebecca Berrens @rberrens.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Very proud of Chuzhi from the lab who presented his first poster at a national meeting and won a poster price at the @gensocuk.bsky.social RNA in physiology and disease meeting!
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Reposted by Rebecca Berrens
bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Transposable elements drive phenotypic variation and shape the response to environmental changes in Drosophila melanogaster www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
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Reposted by Rebecca Berrens
drjgumnamikina @drjgumnamikina.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Hello Bluesky — I’m excited to share our paper published in @narjournal.bsky.social 💙 In this #Research, we show that mammalian #ARC specifically binds its own mRNA and exhibits nucleic acid chaperone activity, offering new insight into ARC–RNA interactions. doi.org/10.1093/nar/...
doi.org
A retroelement-derived mammalian ARC protein exhibits selective RNA recognition and nucleic acid chaperone functions
Abstract. Activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein (ARC) is an RNA-binding protein that also serves as a central hub for neuronal protein–protein
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Reposted by Rebecca Berrens
Dr. Tyler A. Elliott @transposableman.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
#TEsky Transposable elements in the era of data science EMBO course: a call for open, accessible, and collaborative TE resources doi.org/10.1186/s131...
doi.org
Client Challenge
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Reposted by Rebecca Berrens
Amelia Cervera 🍉 @ameliacervera.eurosky.social · 25/07/2026
Animal retrozymes are nonautonomous sequences of Penelope-like elements.
biorxiv.org
Animal retrozymes are nonautonomous sequences of Penelope-like elements
Hammerhead ribozymes (HHRs) are small catalytic RNAs found across diverse life forms. In animals, they can occur as dispersed copies or in tandem genomic arrangements. These tandemly organized forms, ...
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Reposted by Rebecca Berrens
Arnau Sebé-Pedrós @arnausebe.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Happy to share the final version of our study on the evolution of chromatin states across eukaryotes, out today in @natgenet.nature.com Led by @crisnava.bsky.social and @seanamontgomery.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... Some highlights below
nature.com
Diversity and evolution of chromatin regulatory states across eukaryotes - Nature Genetics
This study introduces iChIP2, a low-input chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing method that profiles histone post-translational modifications (hPTMs) simultaneously across diverse eukar...
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Alex de Mendoza @alexdemendoza.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Sailing in @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social ready for summer, our study on the iconic Portuguese man o' war 🪼 is out: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6.... We use (epi)genomics to understand a critter that fascinates me since childhood. Massive team effort with @obog.bsky.social, Cummins and Neely groups. 🧵
the indo-pacific bluebottle (Physalia utriculus)
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Etienne Bucher 🌾🧬🇪🇺 @plantepigenetics.ch · 05/06/2026
We just published our new paper about an active Helitron transposon in wheat 🌾🧬 We found that it can be mobilised by heat stress when DNA methylation is reduced. We document its full lifecycle: RNA -> circular DNA -> integration www.nature.com/articles/s41... #TEsky
nature.com
An active Helitron transposon family in wheat - Nature Plants
Helitrons are a recently identified category of transposons. This study reveals that heat stress combined with reduced DNA methylation can mobilize a Helitron family in wheat. Its mobilization is gene...
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Reposted by Rebecca Berrens
Peiwei Chen @peiwei-chen.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
How do transposons jump when they’re released from host control? I babysat two chromosomes for 2 years, making sure they are ok without most piRNAs. Here’s what we found & excited to share my 1st postdoc paper: “piRNA loss unleashes episodic transposition bursts” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
piRNA loss unleashes episodic transposition bursts
In Metazoa, transposon expression is suppressed by the piRNA pathway, and disruption of this pathway leads to rampant transposon expression. However, it remains unclear whether increased transposon ex...
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Rebecca Berrens @rberrens.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Hi #TEsky, please remember that we have an amazing community in the TransposonsWorldWide slack channel (join.slack.com/t/transposon...), which I encourage you to join. Another great resource is tehub.org. Please share !
join.slack.com
Join TransposonsWorldwide on Slack
Slack is a new way to communicate with your team. It’s faster, better organized, and more secure than email.
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Reposted by Rebecca Berrens
Sarah Bagby @scbagby.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Out today in Nature Microbiology: a paper that started in 2021 with an email from @sullivan-lab.bsky.social. Subject line: "Crazy ideas". www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/23
Screenshot of an email header with subject line "Crazy ideas"
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Rebecca Berrens @rberrens.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Excited to be in Barcelona for ISCO2026 to learn more about new innovations in the single cell genomics and transcriptomics space and reconnect with old friends and making new connections
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Dr Radu Zabet @raduzabet.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
🚨 Excited to share a new manuscript from the lab. Here, we have developed a new method, HiCPotts, to identify significant interactions in 3D chromatin data www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...; package bioconductor.org/packages/HiC.... Big shoutout to an amazing previous PhD in the lab Godwin. 1/n
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Maxim Greenberg @maxvcg.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Exciting #CtrlEpiEdit conference update: Maja Jagodic @ki.se will be joining us in Paris! Check out her fantastic in vivo epigenome editing preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... And register for the symposium here 😉: ctrlepiedit.sciencesconf.org Please repost!
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Cedric Feschotte @cedricfeschotte.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
👋 Transposon lovers: registration is now open for the CSHL TE meeting! We have a 🔥 lineup of invited speakers and many slots for short talks selected upon abstract across all areas of TE biology. 🧬➰🧬 #TEsky Abstract deadline: July 10 meetings.cshl.edu/meetings.asp...
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Antoine Molaro @antoinemolaro.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Hello world! So proud of our own @germainekaram.bsky.social presenting her PhD project during the #FragileNucleosome seminar! Great line-up with Ujani and Ethan! Please join if you wanna know how rapidly evolving H2A histones regulate maternal chromatin in mammals... #MolaroLab #Histones @igred.fr
media.tenor.com
a man in a tie is screaming in a kitchen with the words `` oh the excitement '' written below him .
ALT: a man in a tie is screaming in a kitchen with the words `` oh the excitement '' written below him .
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Surfin' NuRD @surfinnurd.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
OK Kids, our ERK story is finally heading out into the world. After 9 years of having funding, losing funding, losing staff, getting funding, gaining staff...it's ready! We discovered a novel stage of what is an otherwise extensively studied process: how cells respond to extracellular signals. 1/n
biorxiv.org
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Mafalda Almeida 🇵🇹 🇪🇺 🇬🇧 @bluebuleta.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Do you want to move to Oxford and join our lab? There is a computational biologist position open atm to develop and implement tools to analyse TE expression in single cell long read data and more. Apply! #TEsky #UniversityofOxford #postdoc
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Josh Dubnau @joshdubnau.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Fun primer with @ForeverYHChang highlighting a lovely Travis Thomson lab paper! Did animals co-opt viral gag for intercellular (trans synaptic) communication? Or did viruses co-opt retrotransposon gags that animals had previously co-opted for intercellular use?
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Reposted by Rebecca Berrens
Navin B. Ramakrishna @navinbr.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
Integrated small and long RNA sequencing reveals piRNA mediated transposon repression during human oogenesis www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Integrated small and long RNA sequencing reveals piRNA mediated transposon repression during human oogenesis - Nature Communications
The roles of the piRNA pathway in human oocytes are poorly understood. Here, the authors profile small and long RNAs in single oocytes and show that short piRNAs broadly repress transposable elements,...
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Reposted by Rebecca Berrens
Toby Baril @tobybarilbio.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
🎉🧬 Multiple genomes/pangenome? Time for a parTEA! 🧬 ☕️ Tired of annotating TEs one genome at a time? Same. So we organised a parTEA! Introducing EarlGrey ParTEA v0.1.3 — consistent TE annotation across all your genomes, in parallel, with one command: github.com/TobyBaril/Ea... #TEworldwide #TEsky
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Dr. Tyler A. Elliott @transposableman.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
#TEsky TEffectBayes: a nextflow pipeline for exploring the potential effect of transposable elements in gene regulatory network with multi-omic Bayesian network model doi.org/10.1007/s004...
doi.org
TEffectBayes: a nextflow pipeline for exploring the potential effect of transposable elements in gene regulatory network with multi-omic Bayesian network model - Molecular Genetics and Genomics
Molecular Genetics and Genomics - Transposable elements (TEs) are critical contributors to gene regulatory networks, yet their repetitive and abundant nature complicates efforts to elucidate their...
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Reposted by Rebecca Berrens
Evolution Soup @evolutionsoup.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
This fish has cloned itself for 100,000 years. Scientists just figured out how. #evolutionsoup #evolution #gynogenesis #science #fossils #cloning 👇🏿👇🏽 is.gd/PUwN0s
This fish has cloned itself for 100,000 years. Scientists just figured out how.
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Reposted by Rebecca Berrens
Molecular Biology and Evolution @molbioevol.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Potapenko et al. studied two species of barley, finding that TE silencing is central to genome size regulation, with selection maintaining smaller genomes among individuals with higher fitness in favorable habitats. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag051 #evobio #molbio #TEsky #PlantSky
doi.org
Intraspecific genome size variation is attributed to adaptive silencing of transposable elements in Hordeum species
Abstract. A substantial variation in genome size has been observed among individuals of the same species. Theory predicts that increased genome size may co
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Rebecca Berrens @rberrens.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
We are looking for a Postdoc to join our lab at @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social. This is a dry-lab focused post on the computational analysis of long read single-cell sequencing data to understand the role of transposable elements (TEs) in early development. my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru... #TEsky
lnkd.in
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
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Reposted by Rebecca Berrens
Amelia Cervera 🍉 @ameliacervera.eurosky.social · 09/03/2026
#TEsky
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Reposted by Rebecca Berrens
Dr. Tyler A. Elliott @transposableman.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
#TEsky A retroelement-derived mammalian ARC protein exhibits selective RNA recognition and nucleic acid chaperone functions pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41797537/
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
A retroelement-derived mammalian ARC protein exhibits selective RNA recognition and nucleic acid chaperone functions - PubMed
Activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein (ARC) is an RNA-binding protein that also serves as a central hub for neuronal protein-protein interactions. It is essential for intercellular signaling and contributes to synaptic plasticity. ARC includes Gag-like sequences of Ty3/Gypsy retrotransp …
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Reposted by Rebecca Berrens
Ana Gázquez-Gutiérrez @anagazquezg.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
I'm so happy to share our latest paper! Now out in @narjournal.bsky.social 🥳 Did you know that transposable elements embedded in mRNAs can form dsRNA and activate innate immunity? 🧬🦠 Have a look! academic.oup.com/nar/article/... #TEsky #RNAsky #RNAbiology #immunity #NAR
academic.oup.com
Control of retrotransposon-driven activation of the interferon response by the double-stranded RNA binding protein DGCR8
Abstract. The type I interferon (IFN) response is the main innate immune pathway against viruses in mammals. This pathway must be tightly regulated to prev
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Reposted by Rebecca Berrens
Astrid Haase @astridhaase.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Join us at the EMBO Workshop “RNA-guided genome protection” 🇨🇭 June 16–20. Transposon silencing • stem cell biology • RNA-guided immunity. Keynotes: Déborah Bourc’his + Ian MacRae. Register now + submit your abstract! meetings.embo.org/event/26-gen...
meetings.embo.org
RNA-guided genome protection
The genome carries information across generations, ensuring species survival. To preserve faithful transmission of genetic information, RNA-directed mechanisms safeguard the genome integrity in diver…
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Reposted by Rebecca Berrens
Antonio Scialdone @antonio-scialdone.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Transposable elements are increasingly studied in single-cell data, but how reliable are current locus-level quantification methods in short-read scRNA-seq data? If you work with single-cell RNA-seq or TEs, we hope this is a useful resource — feedback very welcome!
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Veronica Finazzi @veronicafin.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Happy to share our new preprint! 📊 We benchmarked methods for locus-level transposable element quantification in short-read scRNA-seq, using both real datasets and simulations with read-level ground truth. Huge thanks to @catavallejos.bsky.social and @antonio-scialdone.bsky.social! #TEsky
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🧬Jacob L Steenwyk @jlsteenwyk.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
How does the piRNA system first recognize a new transposon or virus as foreign? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/202…
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Johann Confais @johannconfais.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
🚨📢📄 Article in press in Genome Biology doi.org/10.1186/s130... We introduce panREPET, a reference-free pipeline to detect shared transposable element (TE) insertions across pangenomes and retrace their evolutionary dynamics #TEsky 🧵👇
doi.org
A reference-free pipeline for detecting shared transposable elements from pan-genomes to retrace their dynamics in a species - Genome Biology
Background The role of transposable elements (TEs) in host adaptation has gained interest in recent years. Individuals of the same species undergo independent TE insertions, providing genetic variabil...
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Dominik Handler @86dominik.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
How does the piRNA pathway solve the self vs. non-self problem? 🧬 Since piRNAs come from single-stranded RNA, how does the cell choose the right ones? For years, "piRNA clusters" were seen as THE privileged source. But are they really special and earmarked for biogenesis? (1/19)
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Bardin Lab @bardinlab.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Very last chance to join us (Deadline tomorrow Feb 10!) at this Developmental Biology meeting! Have a nice story? Come and discuss it with editors from @embojournal.org @plosbiology.org and @dev-journal.bsky.social ! A one hour info session from @erc.europa.eu will also be presented!
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Naomi Moris @nmoris.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
We're recruiting a #devbio Postdoctoral Fellow to explore the hTLS system! If you know any fab PhD students finishing, or candidates wanting to get their hands on #SCBEM embryo models, do get them to apply! 🌟https://www.crick.ac.uk/careers-study/vacancies/2026-02-03-postdoctoral-fellow-moris-lab
A confocal image of a 3D human Trunk-like Structure (hTLS) made from pluripotent stem cells, showing a neural tube (cyan) and segmented somites (magenta).
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FragileNucleosome @fnucleosome.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
We've got two exciting chromatin talks coming up on Wednesday next week: @epijenatics.bsky.social from @jbuenrostro.bsky.social's lab and @ambystoma22.bsky.social! register and join us: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
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Alex Crits-Christoph @acritschristoph.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
Sad to hear that Oxford Nanopore wants to discontinue the P2Solo later this year in favor of the P2i (the very pricey P2Solo that comes with a GPU to do the basecalling in it) It feels like such a big step in the wrong direction. They are a great sequencing company, not a great GPU upseller...
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Etienne Bucher 🌾🧬🇪🇺 @plantepigenetics.ch · 19/01/2026
The speed at which Oxford Nanopore is cancelling support for their devices is just mind boggling 😳 P2 solo will be decommissioned soon!!! This is not sustainable! @nanoporetech.com
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Toby Baril @tobybarilbio.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
🍄Transposon traffic in the mycocosmos🍄 Fascinating work reveals extensive horizontal TE transfer across fungi (@jromeijn.bsky.social, Iñigo Bañales & @mfseidl.bsky.social; doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...). I wrote a Dispatch to prime non-specialists,check it out here: doi.org/10.1016/j.cu.... #TEworldwide
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Teif lab @teiflab.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
Schaepe et al, 2026. Thermodynamic principles link in vitro transcription factor affinities to single-molecule chromatin states in cells www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
The molecular details governing transcription factor (TF) binding and the formation of accessible chromatin are not yet quantitatively understood—including how sequence context modulates affinity, how TFs search DNA, the kinetics of TF occupancy, and how motif grammars coordinate binding. To resolve these questions for a human TF, erythroid Krüppel-like factor (eKLF/KLF1), we quantitatively compare, in high throughput, in vitro TF binding rates and affinities with in vivo single-molecule TF and nucleosome occupancies and in vivo-derived deep learning models. We find that 40-fold flanking sequence effects on affinity are consistent with distal flanks tuning TF search parameters and captured by a linear energy model. Motif recognition probability, rather than time in the bound state, drives affinity changes, and in vitro and in nuclei measurements exhibit consistent, minutes-long TF residence times. Finally, in vitro biophysical parameters predict in vivo sequence preferences and single-molecule chromatin states for unseen motif grammars.
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Molly Gale (Gale-Hammell Lab) @mollygale.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
📣Excited to announce a new pre-print from the lab 📣 Led by my student @storiesofisobel.bsky.social in collab with Hemali Phatnani @nygenome.org We discovered a novel class of TDP-43 dependent cryptic gene-TE spliced transcripts: crypTEs #TEsky #RNAsky #ALS doi.org/10.64898/2026.01.09.698641
doi.org
TDP-43 dysfunction leads to the accumulation of cryptic transposable element-derived exons, crypTEs, in iPSC derived neurons and ALS/FTD patient tissues
TDP-43 is an RNA and DNA binding protein that plays major roles in regulating RNA processing. In particular, TDP-43 dysfunction leads to the accumulation of cryptic splice isoforms that result from im...
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Rebecca Berrens @rberrens.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Really excited to share our recent work here today and connect all of you :)
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Rebecca Berrens @rberrens.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
What a cool story. Particularly like the fact of expansion and different TF bdg sites! Really speaks for each locus being differential key regulated.
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Toby Baril @tobybarilbio.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
☕Earl Grey v7.0.0 brewed fresh☕ Nested TEs finally get the treatment they deserve: iterative detection of deep nesting, cleaner GFF annotations, and coverage stats that don’t double-count genomic space + a RepeatCraft edge-case fix. Happy new year to the TE folks! 🧬 github.com/TobyBaril/Ea...
github.com
GitHub - TobyBaril/EarlGrey: Earl Grey: A fully automated TE curation and annotation pipeline
Earl Grey: A fully automated TE curation and annotation pipeline - TobyBaril/EarlGrey
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Rebecca Berrens @rberrens.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
#TEsky still have to read the paper but sounds very interesting.
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Dr. Tyler A. Elliott @transposableman.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
#TEsky Heterogeneous Lineages of DNA Transposons Encode a TET/JBP Dioxygenase in Fungi doi.org/10.3390/biol...
doi.org
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Alejandro Burga @arburga.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
🪱 Selfish genes are everywhere and drive some of biology’s biggest innovations (CRISPR, antibody recombination, epigenetics). Yet almost no one asks the obvious question: how does a selfish gene begin? Our new manuscript uncovers how selfishness can emerge directly from the host genome.
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Waggoner Lab @labwaggoner.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social Chronic alcohol exposure drives inflammaging and transposon derepression in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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