Project description:Our ChipSeq analysis show that while FrzCD does not bind DNA specific regions, ParB binds parS consistent with what as been previously shown. The FrzCD chemoreceptor from the gliding bacterium Myxococcus xanthus forms cytoplasmic clusters that occupy a large central region of the cell body also occupied by the nucleoid. FrzCD directly binds to the nucleoid and the FrzCD binding to the DNA leads to the formation of chemosensory complexes. This supra-molecular organization is required for cooperative interactions between clustered receptors, in turn important for the modulation of bacterial social behaviors.
Project description:We study the genomic and developmental basis of the mammalian gliding membrane, or patagium, an adaptative trait that has repeatedly evolved in different lineages, including in closely related marsupial species. Through comparative genomic analysis of fifteen new marsupial genomes, both from gliding and non-gliding species, we find that the Emx2 locus experienced lineage-specific patterns of accelerated cis-regulatory evolution in gliding species. We confirm our finding via epigenomics, transcriptomics, and in vivo marsupial transgenics.