The lab is hiring! We have a 4-year NSF funded postdoctoral position to move the needle on the molecular bases of seasonal rhythms/photoperiodism using the charismatic monarch butterfly as a model and cutting-edge approaches (CRISPR, scRNA-seq,...). Details below. Please 🔃

Great opportunity!

Congrats Kira! This is so great and I’m super happy for you!!

Another legacy from @sassonecorsilab Special thanks for an elegant supervision from @JuleenRZierath Check this resource @Cell_Metabolism out if you love and need exercise. Fantastic dream team @DyarKen @lutter_dominik @treebak https://t.co/6RqOSBlHgW

Why working on butterflies? Amazing creatures inspiring technological innovations. Awesome PBS NOVA documentary to be aired soon. Thankful that our lab was included! @TAMU @TAMUScience @TAMUBiology Check out the preview @PBS: NOVA, Butterfly Blueprints https://t.co/WDhypXa2b4.

Hot off the press 🥳! A study from our lab reveals that the monarch butterfly light sensitive Cryptochrome 1 - but not the mammalian-like Cryptochrome 2 - mediates light-dependent magnetosensing of the Earth's magnetic field inclination

The Circadian #2021resolutions anyone can use. * 8 h in bed * Wait for >1 h before first calorie. * Eat within a consistent window of 8-10 h; no longer than 12 h. * >30min outdoor activity under daylight. * No food, no bright light for 2 h before bedtime. REPEAT.

Finally, we investigated whether RBP motifs were enriched at the polyadenylation site of rhythmic APA isoforms. Of the 84 RBP motifs examined, almost half showed an enrichment that was rhythmic across the 24-day. 9/n

Based on these and other results, we next examined if genes could exhibit rhythms in relative 3’ UTR length. Hundreds of genes show a rhythm in 3' UTR length with shorter 3' UTR at dusk, mostly b/c distal APA isoforms preferentially peak at dawn while others peak at dusk. 8/n

To determine if changes in TF activity can regulate the expression of specific APA isoforms, we reanalyzed datasets where mice were fed only at night or arrhythmically. We found that feeding rhythms regulate rhythmic gene expression in an APA isoform-specific manner. 7/n

Because co-transcriptional loading of RBPs on nascent RNA has been proposed to regulate APA (i.e., loading facilitated by TFs), we also examined if the circadian TF Bmal1 could regulate gene expression in an APA isoform-specific manner. Short answer: it does. 6/n

So, could post-transcriptional regulation be involved? Comparison of APA isoform rhythmic expression between nuclear and total RNA showed that, indeed, post-transcriptional events are important.  5/n

Is this because APA isoforms are expressed in different liver cell subtypes? Not really. Reanalyzing a mouse liver scRNA-Seq dataset, we found that cell subtype specific expression only explains a small fraction of the differential rhythmicity between APA isoforms.  4/n

We started with simple questions: Are all APA isoforms of a rhythmic gene rhythmic? And could arrhythmic genes have rhythmic APA isoforms? Using 3’ end RNA-Seq in mouse liver, we found that most genes have a combination of rhythmic and arrhythmic APA isoforms. 3/n

Work by @jbhclock @SatchinPanda and others demonstrated that 50% of genes are rhythmically expressed somewhere in the body. Yet, most genes have multiple isoforms, in part because APA generates transcripts with different 3’ ends. 2/n

Excited to share the latest story from the lab led by Ben Greenwell @b_gwell. We looked at alternative polyadenylation (APA) in the context of #circadian rhythms, and found that rhythmic gene expression is largely APA isoform specific. https://t.co/vxNqch4M4M 1/n

Congratulations to @TAMU mathematician Harold Boas, @TAMU_Biology's Paul Hardin and @TAMUChemistry's Karen Wooley, who are among 489 scientists and engineers unveiled today as 2020 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (@aaas): https://t.co/JPE3zQrC37

Check this out 👇 @TAMU_Biology is hiring! 3 Faculty positions in Biological Timing and 1 in Microbiology in a diverse and vibrant department. More info @ https://t.co/WRf4kFLDUz. Applications due December, 15. Please, RT!

And the latest paper from the lab, led by grad student Sam Iiams, is out in PNAS! Right in time for Thanksgiving... Photoperiodic and clock regulation of the vitamin A pathway in the brain mediates seasonal responsiveness in the monarch butterfly

Please RT! We have a postdoc position available at my lab for studying the role of circRNA in aging. We have exciting results and look for strong candidates with knowledge of biochemistry and/or genetics and which are eager to learn about circular RNAs. https://t.co/RzNx7WNQVp