Publications related to Structure, function and evolution of topologically associating domains (TADs) at HOX loci

A CTCF-dependent mechanism underlies the Hox timer relation to a segmented body plan

During gastrulation, Hox genes are activated in a timesequence that follows the order of the genes along their clusters. This property, which is observed in all animals that develop following a progressive rostral-to-caudal morphogenesis, is associated wit ...

Current Biology Ltd2024

Meeting our Makers: Uncovering the cis-regulatory activity of transposable elements using statistical learning

Cyril David Son-Tuyên Pulver

The adaptation of organisms to their environment depends on the innovative potential inherent to genetic variation. In complex organisms such as mammals, processes like development and immunity require tight gene regulation. Complex forms emerge more often ...

EPFL2024

Ancestral genome reconstruction enhances transposable element annotation by identifying degenerate integrants

Didier Trono, Evaristo Jose Planet Letschert, Wayo Matsushima

Growing evidence indicates that transposable elements (TEs) play important roles in evolution by providing genomes with coding and non-coding sequences. Identification of TE-derived functional elements, however, has relied on TE annotations in individual s ...

2024

Single-cell epigenomic reconstruction of developmental trajectories from pluripotency in human neural organoid systems

Fides Zenk

Cell fate progression of pluripotent progenitors is strictly regulated, resulting in high human cell diversity. Epigenetic modifications also orchestrate cell fate restriction. Unveiling the epigenetic mechanisms underlying human cell diversity has been di ...

Nature Portfolio2024

Quantitative characterization of the inorganic phosphate gene regulatory networks in S. cerevisiae and bottom up engineering an orthogonal gene network

Shiyu Cheng

Gene regulatory networks (GRNs) play a crucial role in an organism's response to changing environmental conditions. Cellular behaviors typically result from the integration of multiple gene outputs, and their regulation often demands precise control of num ...

EPFL2024

Decoding Chromatin Ubiquitylation: A Chemical Biology Perspective

Beat Fierz, Pauline Franz

Since Strahl and Allis proposed the "language of covalent histone modifications", a host of experimental studies have shed light on the different facets of chromatin regulation by epigenetic mechanisms. Initially proposed as a concept for controlling gene ...

Academic Press Ltd- Elsevier Science Ltd2024

Sequential and directional insulation by conserved CTCF sites underlies the Hox timer in stembryos

Denis Duboule, Célia Corinne Renée Bochaton, Lucille Delisle, Hocine Rekaik, Aurélie Hintermann, Alexandre Gauthier Aurèle Mayran

Temporal activation of Hox genes in mouse pseudo-embryos in vitro initiates at the anterior part of the cluster and is accompanied by asymmetric loading of cohesin. Posterior CTCF sites then successively act as transient insulators, regulating the timed tr ...

NATURE PORTFOLIO2023

Statistical learning quantifies transposable element-mediated cis-regulation

Didier Trono, Julien Léonard Duc, Alexandre Coudray, Cyril David Son-Tuyên Pulver, Shaoline Sheppard, Evaristo Jose Planet Letschert, Raphaël Gérard Théodore Michel Marie de Deloÿe et Fourcade de Fondeville, Julien Paul André Pontis, Delphine Yvette L Grun

Background: Transposable elements (TEs) have colonized the genomes of most metazoans, and many TE-embedded sequences function as cis-regulatory elements (CREs) for genes involved in a wide range of biological processes from early embryo- genesis to innate ...

2023

Chromatin modules and their implication in genomic organization and gene regulation

Bart Deplancke, Judith Franziska Kribelbauer, Guido Van Mierlo

Regulation of gene expression is a complex but highly guided process. While genomic technologies and computational approaches have allowed high-throughput mapping of cis-regulatory elements (CREs) and their interactions in 3D, their precise role in regulat ...

ELSEVIER SCIENCE LONDON2023

Deciphering the molecular events leading to the global restoration of the chromatin landscape during mitotic exit

Silja Michelle Placzek

Two fundamental properties of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are their ability to self-renew and differentiate into all somatic cell types. Maintenance of their identity faces major challenges when transitioning through mitosis, as most DNA-binding proteins a ...

EPFL2023

Wide-scale identification of novel/eliminated genes responsible for evolutionary transformations

Daria Korotkova

BackgroundIt is generally accepted that most evolutionary transformations at the phenotype level are associated either with rearrangements of genomic regulatory elements, which control the activity of gene networks, or with changes in the amino acid conten ...

2023

Environment-dependent epistasis increases phenotypic diversity in gene regulatory networks

Florence Gauye, Florian Baier

Mutations to gene regulatory networks can be maladaptive or a source of evolutionary novelty. Epistasis con-founds our understanding of how mutations affect the expression patterns of gene regulatory networks, a chal-lenge exacerbated by the dependence of ...

AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE2023

Species-specific regulation of XIST by the JPX/FTX orthologs

Olga Marie Louise Rosspopoff

X chromosome inactivation (XCI) is an essential process, yet it initiates with remarkable diversity in various mammalian species. XIST, the main trigger of XCI, is controlled in the mouse by an interplay of lncRNA genes (LRGs), some of which evolved concom ...

OXFORD UNIV PRESS2023

Cis-regulatory effect of HPV integration is constrained by host chromatin architecture in cervical cancers

Giovanni Ciriello, Daniele Tavernari

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections are the primary drivers of cervical cancers, and often HPV DNA gets integrated into the host genome. Although the oncogenic impact of HPV encoded genes is relatively well known, the cis-regulatory effect of integrated ...

Wiley2023

Identifying genetic and dietary modulators of metabolic disorders using systems genetics

Xiaoxu Li

Long-term consumption of lipid-rich foods can contribute to common metabolic diseases and systemic low-grade inflammation. However, dietary responses and the development of non-communicable diseases are shaped by genetic factors and gene-by-environment int ...

EPFL2023

Genetic features and genomic targets of human KRAB-zinc finger proteins

Didier Trono, Priscilla Turelli, Julien Léonard Duc, Sandra Eloise Kjeldsen, Jonas Caspar De Tribolet-Hardy, Bara Khubieh, Jacques Fellay, Michaël Imbeault, Alexandre Coudray, Cyril David Son-Tuyên Pulver, Evaristo Jose Planet Letschert, Christian Axel Wandall Thorball, Romain Forey

Krüppel-associated box (KRAB) domain-containing zinc finger proteins (KZFPs) are one of the largest groups of transcription factors encoded by tetrapods, with 378 members in human alone. KZFP genes are often grouped in clusters reflecting amplification by ...

2023

Exploring the role of transcriptional and post-transcriptional processes in mRNA co-expression

Benjamin Joao Clément Antonin Hadrien Martin

Co-expression of two or more genes at the single-cell level is usually associated with functional co-regulation. While mRNA co-expression-measured as the correlation in mRNA levels-can be influenced by both transcriptional and post-transcriptional events, ...

Wiley2023

Transcriptomic data meta-analysis reveals common and injury model specific gene expression changes in the regenerating zebrafish heart

Marius Alexandru Botos Rogozsan

Zebrafish have the capacity to fully regenerate the heart after an injury, which lies in sharp contrast to the irreversible loss of cardiomyocytes after a myocardial infarction in humans. Transcriptomics analysis has contributed to dissect underlying signa ...

Nature Portfolio2023

SARS-CoV-2 hijacks a cell damage response, which induces transcription of a more efficient Spike S-acyltransferase

Béatrice Kunz, Didier Trono, Françoise Gisou van der Goot Grunberg, Laurence Gouzi Abrami, Audrey Geneviève Chuat, Francisco De Magalhães Sarmento R De Mesquita, Lucie Josepha Marie Bracq, Joana Carlevaro Fita, Nattawadee Panyain

SARS-CoV-2 infection requires Spike protein-mediated fusion between the viral and cellular membranes. The fusogenic activity of Spike depends on its post-translational lipid modification by host S-acyltransferases, predominantly ZDHHC20. Previous observati ...

Nature Research2023

The THO complex counteracts TERRA R-loop-mediated telomere fragility in telomerase(+) cells and telomeric recombination in ALT(+) cells

Joachim Lingner, Rita Valador Fernandes

Telomeres are the nucleoprotein structures at the ends of linear chromosomes. Telomeres are transcribed into long non-coding Telomeric Repeat-Containing RNA (TERRA), whose functions rely on its ability to associate with telomeric chromatin. The conserved T ...

OXFORD UNIV PRESS2023