Now published in NAR. Thanks to the editor and reviewers who provided a great review experience which certainly improved the paper.
urldefense.com/v3/__https:/...

Thrilled to present our comparative study on the evolution of zygotic genome activation (ZGA)!! 🥚🧬

Amazing PhD work of @campobes.bsky.social together with @fedemantica.bsky.social and many collaborators! @melisupf.bsky.social @crg.eu. Thread below 1/15

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

We’ve had some luck using miRDeep on Nasonia and in a collaboration on corals using ShortStack

ft. Nicholas Galambos, Olivia Crocker, Blair Schneider, Kennelly Allerton, Katrin Gross, Alexandra Schneider, Jared Lynch & @colinconine.bsky.social (@penngenetics.bsky.social/ @pennepigenetics.bsky.social) @chopresearch.bsky.social @natcomms.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I’m sad to miss it, but looks like it will be awesome!

new Lai lab paper! Renfu Shang's study on mechanistic complexities of miRNA cluster assistance was online @genesdev.bsky.social earlier, but now finally in print. as a bonus, its featured by news and views from Cifuentes lab! 🧬

genesdev.cshlp.org/content/40/7...
genesdev.cshlp.org/content/40/7...

Our work investigating mRNA 3' UTRs that trigger target-directed miRNA degradation is now published! genesdev.cshlp.org/content/earl...

There is accumulating evidence that sperm miRNAs function to regulate embryonic gene expression and transmit inherited phenotypes to offspring but how does this work since sperm cargo is massively diluted in the egg upon fertilization. Here we directly address this ? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

When folks say that youthful indiscretions should be forgiven, I’m hoping it’s something like ‘they smoked a joint when they were not supposed to’ not that ‘they fetishized Nazi symbols of hate so much that they tattooed them over their body”

But that is just me

@mukherja.bsky.social work on RNAPII clusters is in print today: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Congrats!
TLDR: RNAPII clusters represent transcriptonally engaged molecules at single genes, not super-stochiometric assemblies.
Please check it out and see the the thread below for a summary.

Another amazing piece of work from the Conine lab!

Thanks Swathi!

These findings support a model, which we term the cascade model, where sperm miRNAs directly repress target mRNAs (including potent regulatory factors) in early embryos, initiating downstream gene expression changes that propagate across development and influence offspring phenotype.

This is not a single miRNA effect. Injecting a different sperm miRNA (miR-465c) at 200 molecules directly targets a distinct set of regulatory factors during early embryogenesis which then produces secondary changes in gene expression in subsequent developmental stages

Perhaps most importantly, modest increase in a single sperm miRNA (miR-200c) are sufficient to alter early embryonic transcription and induce craniofacial developmental phenotypes that recapitulates fetal FAS phenotypes associated with paternal alcohol exposure (alcohol regulates miR-200c in sperm)

We developed mouse parthenotes as a system to isolate the effects of specific sperm RNAs injecting a titration of 200 to 5000 miRNA molecules and then quantitating embryonic gene expression. Finding evidence of direct targeting in 2-cell embryos that lead to downstream effects in later stages.

There is accumulating evidence that sperm miRNAs function to regulate embryonic gene expression and transmit inherited phenotypes to offspring but how does this work since sperm cargo is massively diluted in the egg upon fertilization. Here we directly address this ? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Yes there is evidence for this, but one thing that strikes me is that even short tDRs, while seen, are never very abundant or enriched in Argonaute IP. There are also mechanistic questions surrounding how they would be loaded, etc. We will see if they come up in our screens for effector function

We are working to find the effector protein(s). Worms are a great system to find these “unknowns” with genetic screens. I don’t think it’s going to be an Argonautes though…

Excellent new work on tRNA fragments in C. elegans supports my long-standing hypothesis that tRNA halves can serve as precursors for shorter fragments, rather than all tRNA-derived species arising directly from full-length tRNA through RNase T2 cleavage.

doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Natural maternal immunity protects neonates from Escherichia coli sepsis - Nature Neonatal sepsis caused by Escherichia coli is associated with reduced transfer of pathogen-specific maternal antibodies and, in a mouse model, can be prevented by maternal preconceptual colonization with probiotic E. coli.

Nature research paper: Natural maternal immunity protects neonates from Escherichia coli sepsis

go.nature.com/4lm44sR

Check out this collaboration between Kellie Jurado’s lab and mine. We find that paternal immune activation reprograms the epididymis and, subsequently, small RNAs in sperm, which modulate post-fertilization embryonic gene expression and immunity in offspring in a sex-specific manner.

Acute Paternal Immune Activation Shapes Embryonic Development and Protects Offspring from Viral Infection www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03...

First 24 hours of embryonic development in 9 different animal species: (From left to right) Zebrafish, Sea urchin, Black widow spider, Tardigrade, Sea squirt, Comb jelly, Parchment tube worm, Roundworm, Slipper snail. Credit to @tessamontague.bsky.social & Zuzka Vavrušová. #ZebrafishZunday #devbio 🧪

Physiologic variation in sperm miRNAs tune embryonic gene regulatory programs and developmental outcomes www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03...

Comparison of extracellular vesicles and mechanically induced vesicles for structure determination of membrane proteins www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03...

I am so proud to share @forrestdrogers.bsky.social’s postdoctoral magnum opus, now out in @nature.com! Forrest discovered a novel role for Agouti in the MPOA of the hypothalamus to integrate socio-environmental information to flexibly tune paternal behavior
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Thread! 👇🏻

New preprint in collab with Capelson & Schindler labs):
Nuclear pore complexes are developmentally removed and rebuilt during oocyte specification. Blocking turnover prevents gene silencing and meiotic entry.
Nuclear architecture renewal is required for cell fate.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Mechanisms linking cytoplasmic decay of translation-defective mRNA to transcriptional adaptation Transcriptional adaptation (TA) is a genetic robustness mechanism through which mutant messenger RNA (mRNA) decay induces sequence-dependent up-regulation of so-called adapting genes. How cytoplasmica...

@science.org Mechanisms linking cytoplasmic decay of translation-defective mRNA to transcriptional adaptation | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...