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Article
Open AccessLong first exons and epigenetic marks distinguish conserved pachytene piRNA clusters from other mammalian genes
In the male germ cells of placental mammals, 26–30-nt-long PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) emerge when spermatocytes enter the pachytene phase of meiosis. In mice, pachytene piRNAs derive from ~100 discrete aut...
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Article
Open AccessStrand-specific libraries for high throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) prepared without poly(A) selection
High throughput DNA sequencing technology has enabled quantification of all the RNAs in a cell or tissue, a method widely known as RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq). However, non-coding RNAs such as rRNA are highly abu...
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Article
Kinesin I-dependent cortical exclusion restricts pole plasm to the oocyte posterior
Microtubules and the plus-end-directed microtubule motor Kinesin I are required for the selective accumulation of oskar mRNA at the posterior cortex of the Drosophila melanogaster oocyte, which is essential to po...
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Article
TACCing down the spindle poles
Centrosomes define the poles of mitotic spindles, but spindles that lack centrosomes mediate meiotic chromosome segregation in females. Recent studies provide new insight into anastral-spindle assembly, and in...
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Article
Centrosomes and the Scrambled protein coordinate microtubule-independent actin reorganization
In Drosophila syncytial blastoderm embryos, centrosomes specify the position of actin-based interphase caps and mitotic furrows. Mutations in the scrambled locus prevent assembly of mitotic furrows, but do not bl...
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Article
DNA-replication/DNA-damage-dependent centrosome inactivation in Drosophila embryos
During early embryogenesis of Drosophila melanogaster, mutations in the DNA-replication checkpoint lead to chromosome-segregation failures. Here we show that these segregation failures are associated with the ass...
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Article
DNA-replication checkpoint control at the Drosophila midblastula transition
Embryogenesis is typically initiated by a series of rapid mitotic divisions that are under maternal genetic control1. The switch to zygotic control of embryogenesis at the midblastula transition is accompanied by...
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Article
Mechanical basis of meiotic metaphase arrest
CONTROL of the metaphase to anaphase transition is a central component of cell-cycle regulation. Arrest at either metaphase I or II before fertilization is a common component of oogenesis in many organisms1. In D...