How do cells tune PRC2 allostery? We find EZH2 Ser21-phos restrains PRC2 adoption of the compact active state. Loss of this restraint promotes H3K27me3, redistributes cPRC1, and impairs differentiation. New bioRxiv with @kasinath-lab.bsky.social & @garcialabms.bsky.social! tinyurl.com/4369kmh2
Does PRC2 interact with RNA or is it an artefact? See our preprint showing how stringent denaturing purifications with spike-in controls support direct interaction between PRC2 and RNA in cells. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
New from the lab: cfDNA provides an unexpected window into telomere chromatin state and genome-wide chromatin changes that accompany telomere shortening, from a blood draw. We hope this opens a path toward monitoring telomere biology disorders with a blood test. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Out today - structure of the human HIRA histone chaperone complex bound to nucleosomes. Ever wondered how nucleosomes are assembled in the wake of transcription? It takes a 'hulk of a protein complex'. Work by the amazing Wei Tian weetian558.bsky.social. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🧵
🆕 review with @jpunfried.bsky.social out in Nature SMB. Direct roles of lncRNAs in transcriptional activation. What do we understand about how lncRNAs lure Pol2 and set the stage for RNA production, and what do we still miss? www.nature.com/articles/s41...
New work from Sashi Weerawarana on how TFAM compacts mitochondrial DNA 🧬
TFAM oligomerizes on DNA to form compact, homogeneous higher-order complexes (see beautiful mass photometry data below), that still retain dynamic behavior. Congratulations Sashi and Wei. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Excited to share our latest work in Molecular Cell: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
We show that PRC1 condensates exclude SWI/SNF from chromatin, revealing a physical mechanism for how opposing regulators compete to control gene expression.
Huge thanks to all collaborators and mentors!
New preprint from our lab! An H3.3 knockout does two things at once: it removes H3.3 from chromatin and destabilizes DAXX. We disentangle those functions and find that DAXX-mediated H3.3 deposition can be uncoupled from ERV silencing.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
🧵 New preprint from our group, in collaboration with the @marcbuhler.bsky.social lab at FMI Basel and the Thalassinos lab at UCL. A long project and a finding we're really pleased with. Thread 👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Happy to share that David and I have a new review out in @annualreviews.bsky.social of Biochemistry!
We break down Pol II pausing, its evidence in vitro/in vivo, and its two key fates which are in kinetic competition: pause release vs premature termination.
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
This Review discusses how long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) control transcription activation by RNA polymerase II, including how they are produced at active enhancers or chromatin-domain boundaries and ac...
www.nature.com
Niekamp et al. show that biomolecular condensates formed by Polycomb repressive complexes
can physically restrict access of the activating remodeler SWI/SNF to chromatin. Establishing
this barrier dep...