Gene Regulatory Evolution Unit
Unravelling the evolution of gene regulatory programmes driven by transposable elements
Faculty
Research Summary
Life on Earth exhibits remarkable diversity, even among closely related species. Our research unit seeks to understand how gene regulatory programmes evolve to enable such rapid diversification. A key source of this evolutionary flexibility is thought to be transposable elements (TEs), genetic sequences that proliferate within host genomes and rapidly reshape genomic landscapes. By investigating functional sequences derived from TEs and the transcription factors that regulate them, we aim to uncover how TEs and host factors together shape gene regulatory programmes, from both evolutionary and mechanistic perspectives.
Selected Publications
- Matsushima W, Duc J, Sheppard S, Pulver C, Coudray A, Grun D, Planet E, Trono D (2025) Zinc-finger proteins with a co-opted retroviral domain anchor nucleosomes over transposon sequences. bioRxiv https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.03.638093v1
- Matsushima W, Planet E, Trono D (2024) Ancestral genome reconstruction enhances transposable element annotation by identifying degenerate integrants. Cell Genomics 4 (2): 100497 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xgen.2024.100497