Resources

Datasets & Code

We investigated transcription termination at piRNA loci in nematodes and discovered that the Integrator complex is involved in piRNA biogenesis in nematodes. Our results provided new insights into the mechanisms of piRNA biogenesis in nematodes and uncovered novel functions of the Integrator complex in the regulation of promoter‐proximal Pol II pausing and the biogenesis of non‐coding RNAs.

Sequencing data (small RNA sequencing, short‐capped RNA sequencing and CAGE data) are available in the Sequence Read Archive (SRA) PRJNA592867

For further information see our publication Beltran et al., 2021: PMID: 33340372

We used experimentally evolved populations of C. elegans to study the dynamics of transposable elements (TE) expression over 409 generations. The experimental populations were evolved at population sizes of 1, 10 and 100 individuals to manipulate the efficiency of natural selection versus genetic drift. Our results showed that natural selection in C. elegans is responsible for maintaining low levels of TE expression, and provide new insights into the epigenomic features responsible.

Computational analysis of TE expression and small RNA analysis codes are available at GitHub

For further information see our publication Bergthorsson et al., 2020: PMID: 33158445

We evaluated the potential of epigenetic alterations (epimutations) for evolutionary adaptation by performing a genome-wide study of epimutations in Caenorhabditis elegans. We show that epimutations mediated by small RNAs may contribute to evolutionary processes over a short timescale but are unlikely to bring about long-term divergence in the absence of selection.

High-throughput sequencing data for small RNAs and polyA-selected RNAs are available in the Sequence Read Archive (SRA) under accession no. PRJNA553063

The custom code and R markdown documents generated in this project have been uploaded to GitHub

For further information see our publication Beltran et al., 2020: PMID: 32868918