Piotr Ziolkowski
@piotraz.bsky.social
Geneticist interested in (meiotic) recombination and impact of chromatin structure on DNA functions
http://dgb.amu.edu.pl
http://dgb.amu.edu.pl
Pinned
Piotr Ziolkowski
@piotraz.bsky.social
· Sep 20
Thrilled to see our paper featured on the cover!!! 🎉🌽
⏰ Last week to apply!
Don’t miss the chance to join our lab and explore the fascinating world of meiotic recombination 🌿
👉 Deadline: Nov 1, 2025
Don’t miss the chance to join our lab and explore the fascinating world of meiotic recombination 🌿
👉 Deadline: Nov 1, 2025
🚀 We’re hiring a Postdoc!
Join our group in Poznan, Poland to study meiotic crossover recombination in plants 🌱 Highly motivated & enthusiastic candidates are welcome!
📅 Deadline: Nov 1, 2025
🔗 ibmib.web.amu.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Postdoc_position-2025-Ziolkowskis-Lab.pdf
Join our group in Poznan, Poland to study meiotic crossover recombination in plants 🌱 Highly motivated & enthusiastic candidates are welcome!
📅 Deadline: Nov 1, 2025
🔗 ibmib.web.amu.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Postdoc_position-2025-Ziolkowskis-Lab.pdf
October 25, 2025 at 5:48 AM
⏰ Last week to apply!
Don’t miss the chance to join our lab and explore the fascinating world of meiotic recombination 🌿
👉 Deadline: Nov 1, 2025
Don’t miss the chance to join our lab and explore the fascinating world of meiotic recombination 🌿
👉 Deadline: Nov 1, 2025
Reposted by Piotr Ziolkowski
🚨 New from our lab in #ScienceAdvances!
RAD21L cohesin acts as both a 3D genome architect and a transcriptional gatekeeper in the male germline. Its loss disrupts both structure and function—highlighting the tight link between genome folding and gene regulation
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
RAD21L cohesin acts as both a 3D genome architect and a transcriptional gatekeeper in the male germline. Its loss disrupts both structure and function—highlighting the tight link between genome folding and gene regulation
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Meiotic cohesin RAD21L shapes 3D genome structure and transcription in the male germline
Deletion of the meiotic subunit RAD21L alters 3D chromatin structure and transcription in the mammalian male germ line.
www.science.org
October 2, 2025 at 1:35 AM
🚨 New from our lab in #ScienceAdvances!
RAD21L cohesin acts as both a 3D genome architect and a transcriptional gatekeeper in the male germline. Its loss disrupts both structure and function—highlighting the tight link between genome folding and gene regulation
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
RAD21L cohesin acts as both a 3D genome architect and a transcriptional gatekeeper in the male germline. Its loss disrupts both structure and function—highlighting the tight link between genome folding and gene regulation
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
A great story from @chloegirard.bsky.social, confirming and extending our findings on how interhomolog polymorphism shapes crossover distribution in plants 🌱
🚨 First pre-print from my team !!
TL;DR: presence of polymorphism (sequence differences between the homologous chromosomes) can *increase* the local rate of recombination in Arabidopsis thaliana, turning cold regions of the genome hot (purple v. grey) !
TL;DR: presence of polymorphism (sequence differences between the homologous chromosomes) can *increase* the local rate of recombination in Arabidopsis thaliana, turning cold regions of the genome hot (purple v. grey) !
October 1, 2025 at 5:04 PM
A great story from @chloegirard.bsky.social, confirming and extending our findings on how interhomolog polymorphism shapes crossover distribution in plants 🌱
Reposted by Piotr Ziolkowski
Please consider signing a petition to increase the spending on science in Poland / List otwarty w sprawie finansowania nauki, w tym @ncn.gov.pl www.petycjeonline.com/list_otwarty...
List otwarty do Prezydenta RP, Marszałka Sejmu RP, Marszałka Senatu RP, Prezesa Rady Ministrów oraz Wiceprezesów Rady Ministrów w sprawie finansowania nauki, w tym zwłaszcza Narodowego Centrum Nauki
Szanowni Państwo,
W niniejszej petycji prezentujemy List otwarty, który będzie wysłany do Kancelarii Prezydenta, Marszałków Sejmu i Senatu, Prezesa Rady Ministr&oacut...
www.petycjeonline.com
September 29, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Please consider signing a petition to increase the spending on science in Poland / List otwarty w sprawie finansowania nauki, w tym @ncn.gov.pl www.petycjeonline.com/list_otwarty...
🚀 We’re hiring a Postdoc!
Join our group in Poznan, Poland to study meiotic crossover recombination in plants 🌱 Highly motivated & enthusiastic candidates are welcome!
📅 Deadline: Nov 1, 2025
🔗 ibmib.web.amu.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Postdoc_position-2025-Ziolkowskis-Lab.pdf
Join our group in Poznan, Poland to study meiotic crossover recombination in plants 🌱 Highly motivated & enthusiastic candidates are welcome!
📅 Deadline: Nov 1, 2025
🔗 ibmib.web.amu.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Postdoc_position-2025-Ziolkowskis-Lab.pdf
September 27, 2025 at 5:03 AM
🚀 We’re hiring a Postdoc!
Join our group in Poznan, Poland to study meiotic crossover recombination in plants 🌱 Highly motivated & enthusiastic candidates are welcome!
📅 Deadline: Nov 1, 2025
🔗 ibmib.web.amu.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Postdoc_position-2025-Ziolkowskis-Lab.pdf
Join our group in Poznan, Poland to study meiotic crossover recombination in plants 🌱 Highly motivated & enthusiastic candidates are welcome!
📅 Deadline: Nov 1, 2025
🔗 ibmib.web.amu.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Postdoc_position-2025-Ziolkowskis-Lab.pdf
Holliday junction–ZMM feedback ensures meiotic crossover assurance in yeast! Great work from the Joao Matos lab!
👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Holliday junction–ZMM protein feedback enables meiotic crossover assurance - Nature
Holliday junctions maintain chromosome synapsis to enable crossover assurance in budding yeast.
www.nature.com
September 25, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Holliday junction–ZMM feedback ensures meiotic crossover assurance in yeast! Great work from the Joao Matos lab!
👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Fantastic work coming out of Neil Hunter’s lab! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Protecting double Holliday junctions ensures crossing over during meiosis - Nature
Conditional ablation experiments show that key components of the synaptonemal complex protect double Holliday junction recombination intermediates to ensure their resolution into crossover products, which are required for accurate chromosome segregation during meiosis.
www.nature.com
September 25, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Fantastic work coming out of Neil Hunter’s lab! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Thrilled to see our paper featured on the cover!!! 🎉🌽
September 20, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Thrilled to see our paper featured on the cover!!! 🎉🌽
Reposted by Piotr Ziolkowski
Hybridization and introgression are major evolutionary processes. Since the 1940s, the prevailing view has been that they shape plants far more than animals. In our new study (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
), we find the opposite: animals exchange genes more, and for longer, than plants
), we find the opposite: animals exchange genes more, and for longer, than plants
September 12, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Hybridization and introgression are major evolutionary processes. Since the 1940s, the prevailing view has been that they shape plants far more than animals. In our new study (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
), we find the opposite: animals exchange genes more, and for longer, than plants
), we find the opposite: animals exchange genes more, and for longer, than plants
Reposted by Piotr Ziolkowski
Paper led by @movillome.bsky.social on unbiased detection of (somatic) #TE insertions in #Arabidopsis with @pacbio.bsky.social long reads out after peer review. Thanks to academic editor Leandro Quadrana for shepherding it through the review process.
#plantscience
link.springer.com/article/10.1...?
#plantscience
link.springer.com/article/10.1...?
Long-read detection of transposable element mobilization in the soma of hypomethylated Arabidopsis thaliana individuals - Genome Biology
Background Because transposable elements (TEs) can cause heritable genetic changes, past work on TE mobility in Arabidopsis thaliana has mostly focused on new TE insertions in the germline of hypometh...
link.springer.com
July 31, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Paper led by @movillome.bsky.social on unbiased detection of (somatic) #TE insertions in #Arabidopsis with @pacbio.bsky.social long reads out after peer review. Thanks to academic editor Leandro Quadrana for shepherding it through the review process.
#plantscience
link.springer.com/article/10.1...?
#plantscience
link.springer.com/article/10.1...?
Reposted by Piotr Ziolkowski
A three year postdoctoral position is available in my group, investigating plant centromere structure, function and evolution @camplantsci.bsky.social
www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/51488/
www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/51488/
Research Assistant / Research Associate (Fixed Term) - Job Opportunities - University of Cambridge
Research Assistant / Research Associate (Fixed Term) in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge.
www.jobs.cam.ac.uk
May 30, 2025 at 12:13 PM
A three year postdoctoral position is available in my group, investigating plant centromere structure, function and evolution @camplantsci.bsky.social
www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/51488/
www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/51488/
Reposted by Piotr Ziolkowski
Very happy to have contributed to this collaborative work, with main drivers Marion Orsucci and Adrien Sicard:
Sexual selection drives the speciation of lineages with contrasting mating systems: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Sexual selection drives the speciation of lineages with contrasting mating systems: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Sexual selection drives the speciation of lineages with contrasting mating systems
Repeated shifts in ecological strategies often lead to consistent speciation patterns across phylogenies. One example is the transition from outcrossi…
www.sciencedirect.com
April 17, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Very happy to have contributed to this collaborative work, with main drivers Marion Orsucci and Adrien Sicard:
Sexual selection drives the speciation of lineages with contrasting mating systems: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Sexual selection drives the speciation of lineages with contrasting mating systems: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Piotr Ziolkowski
Here’s an interesting new paper on ROS1, an enzyme that removes DNA methylation and that is POSITIVELY controlled by DNA methylation.
It’s repression during heat stress 🥵🌱 is crucial to suppress transposon mobility! 🧬
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
It’s repression during heat stress 🥵🌱 is crucial to suppress transposon mobility! 🧬
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Plants repress ROS1 expression to attenuate heat-induced transposon burst - Nature Plants
Plants suppress the DNA demethylase ROS1 under heat stress to limit transposon activation, preventing genome instability. This conserved mechanism balances stress adaptation with genome protection.
www.nature.com
August 11, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Here’s an interesting new paper on ROS1, an enzyme that removes DNA methylation and that is POSITIVELY controlled by DNA methylation.
It’s repression during heat stress 🥵🌱 is crucial to suppress transposon mobility! 🧬
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
It’s repression during heat stress 🥵🌱 is crucial to suppress transposon mobility! 🧬
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Piotr Ziolkowski
Aneuploidy is the leading cause of pregnancy loss. In work led by @saracarioscia.bsky.social and @aabiddanda.bsky.social, we reanalyzed genetic testing data from 139,416 IVF embryos to discover variants associated with recombination phenotypes and aneuploidy risk. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
April 7, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Aneuploidy is the leading cause of pregnancy loss. In work led by @saracarioscia.bsky.social and @aabiddanda.bsky.social, we reanalyzed genetic testing data from 139,416 IVF embryos to discover variants associated with recombination phenotypes and aneuploidy risk. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Piotr Ziolkowski
Cryogenic electron microscopy has been used to determine the detailed structure of an intermediate state called a “D-loop” that forms when strands of DNA are exchanged during homologous recombination.
buff.ly/pZZfIso
buff.ly/pZZfIso
September 10, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Cryogenic electron microscopy has been used to determine the detailed structure of an intermediate state called a “D-loop” that forms when strands of DNA are exchanged during homologous recombination.
buff.ly/pZZfIso
buff.ly/pZZfIso
Reposted by Piotr Ziolkowski
How many chromosomes can an animal have?
In our paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social we show that the Atlas blue butterfly has 229 chromosome pairs- the highest in diploid Metazoa! These arose by rapid autosome fragmentation while sex chromosomes stayed intact.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
In our paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social we show that the Atlas blue butterfly has 229 chromosome pairs- the highest in diploid Metazoa! These arose by rapid autosome fragmentation while sex chromosomes stayed intact.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Constraints on chromosome evolution revealed by the 229 chromosome pairs of the Atlas blue butterfly
The genome of the Atlas blue butterfly contains ten times more chromosomes than most
butterflies, and more than any other known diploid animal. Wright et al. show that
this extraordinary karyotype is ...
tinyurl.com
September 11, 2025 at 3:22 PM
How many chromosomes can an animal have?
In our paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social we show that the Atlas blue butterfly has 229 chromosome pairs- the highest in diploid Metazoa! These arose by rapid autosome fragmentation while sex chromosomes stayed intact.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
In our paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social we show that the Atlas blue butterfly has 229 chromosome pairs- the highest in diploid Metazoa! These arose by rapid autosome fragmentation while sex chromosomes stayed intact.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Piotr Ziolkowski
Do you want to know how to live-image internal floral organs with confocal microscope for up to 2 weeks?
Check out our protocol:
bio-protocol.org/en/bpdetail?...
#Arabidopsis #Flower
Check out our protocol:
bio-protocol.org/en/bpdetail?...
#Arabidopsis #Flower
December 18, 2024 at 1:24 PM
Do you want to know how to live-image internal floral organs with confocal microscope for up to 2 weeks?
Check out our protocol:
bio-protocol.org/en/bpdetail?...
#Arabidopsis #Flower
Check out our protocol:
bio-protocol.org/en/bpdetail?...
#Arabidopsis #Flower
Reposted by Piotr Ziolkowski
Thrilled to share our latest work on meiotic recombination, where we mapped rates and distributions by sequencing thousands of individual sperm. This study was led by Stevan Novakovic and @caitlinharris.bsky.social , in collaboration with @davisjmcc.bsky.social and Cynthia Liu.
September 5, 2025 at 3:49 AM
Thrilled to share our latest work on meiotic recombination, where we mapped rates and distributions by sequencing thousands of individual sperm. This study was led by Stevan Novakovic and @caitlinharris.bsky.social , in collaboration with @davisjmcc.bsky.social and Cynthia Liu.
Thrilled to see such a thoughtful commentary on our paper by Maria Cuacos & Stefan Heckmann 🙌 Many thanks! 🔬🙏
New OA Article: "Enhancing local meiotic crossovers in Arabidopsis and maize through juxtaposition of heterozygous and homozygous regions" rdcu.be/eDWJI
With News & Views: "Diversity favoured: heterozygosity attracts crossovers" rdcu.be/eDWKQ
With News & Views: "Diversity favoured: heterozygosity attracts crossovers" rdcu.be/eDWKQ
September 4, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Thrilled to see such a thoughtful commentary on our paper by Maria Cuacos & Stefan Heckmann 🙌 Many thanks! 🔬🙏
Breaking genetics news‼️🌱🌽 A natural DNA trick triples recombination in maize. What we first saw in Arabidopsis (@hendersi lab) a decade ago is now confirmed in crops—opening new doors for plant breeding. Published today in Nature Plants! More details 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Enhancing local meiotic crossovers in Arabidopsis and maize through juxtaposition of heterozygous and homozygous regions - Nature Plants
This study discovered that locally confined DNA differences boost crossover rates in both Arabidopsis and maize, revealing a conserved mechanism that can accelerate plant breeding and trait introgress...
www.nature.com
September 2, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Breaking genetics news‼️🌱🌽 A natural DNA trick triples recombination in maize. What we first saw in Arabidopsis (@hendersi lab) a decade ago is now confirmed in crops—opening new doors for plant breeding. Published today in Nature Plants! More details 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Piotr Ziolkowski
The identification of the very conserved CTF18, SGO2 and SPF2 as suppressors of centromere-proximal crossovers highlights the importance of cohesin turnover in this process and opens up new possibilities for plant breeding. Much more in the paper : www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Unlocking meiotic crossovers near plant centromeres
Crossovers (COs) ensure proper chromosome segregation during meiosis and generate genetic diversity. COs are non-uniformly distributed along chromosomes and almost universally suppressed in centromere...
www.biorxiv.org
August 25, 2025 at 7:54 AM
The identification of the very conserved CTF18, SGO2 and SPF2 as suppressors of centromere-proximal crossovers highlights the importance of cohesin turnover in this process and opens up new possibilities for plant breeding. Much more in the paper : www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Piotr Ziolkowski
Preprint Alert! 🚨🧬
Not one, but two preprints!
Meiotic orientation of kinetochore at meiosis is inforced by...[see below]
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
and
Unlocking meiotic crossovers next to plant centromere
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#meiosis4ever
#everythingisconnected
a thread👇
Not one, but two preprints!
Meiotic orientation of kinetochore at meiosis is inforced by...[see below]
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
and
Unlocking meiotic crossovers next to plant centromere
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#meiosis4ever
#everythingisconnected
a thread👇
Monopolar orientation of kinetochores at meiosis is enforced by COHESINS and their regulators, CENP-C, and the deSUMOylase SPF2
The first division of meiosis is unique in its capacity to halve the ploidy of the future gametes. To this end, one key innovation compared to mitosis is the monopolar orientation of the pairs of sist...
www.biorxiv.org
August 25, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Preprint Alert! 🚨🧬
Not one, but two preprints!
Meiotic orientation of kinetochore at meiosis is inforced by...[see below]
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
and
Unlocking meiotic crossovers next to plant centromere
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#meiosis4ever
#everythingisconnected
a thread👇
Not one, but two preprints!
Meiotic orientation of kinetochore at meiosis is inforced by...[see below]
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
and
Unlocking meiotic crossovers next to plant centromere
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#meiosis4ever
#everythingisconnected
a thread👇
Reposted by Piotr Ziolkowski
Six more years—plus a lot of blood, sweat, and tears—later, we are thrilled to finally share it: a cytological framework of female meiosis in Arabidopsis!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A cytological framework of female meiosis in Arabidopsis
Female and male meiosis often differ in many aspects, such as their duration and the frequency as well as the positioning of crossovers. However, studying female meiosis is often very challenging and ...
www.biorxiv.org
August 25, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Six more years—plus a lot of blood, sweat, and tears—later, we are thrilled to finally share it: a cytological framework of female meiosis in Arabidopsis!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
‼️Can we tune crossover hotspot activity by targeting chromatin modifiers? Absolutely!💥
Our screen shows dCas9-JMJ14 represses crossovers at targeted sites, while VP64 boosts them!
🧬 Check our new preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#meiosis4ever #CRISPR #Arabidopsis
Our screen shows dCas9-JMJ14 represses crossovers at targeted sites, while VP64 boosts them!
🧬 Check our new preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#meiosis4ever #CRISPR #Arabidopsis
https://biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
June 28, 2025 at 5:27 PM
‼️Can we tune crossover hotspot activity by targeting chromatin modifiers? Absolutely!💥
Our screen shows dCas9-JMJ14 represses crossovers at targeted sites, while VP64 boosts them!
🧬 Check our new preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#meiosis4ever #CRISPR #Arabidopsis
Our screen shows dCas9-JMJ14 represses crossovers at targeted sites, while VP64 boosts them!
🧬 Check our new preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#meiosis4ever #CRISPR #Arabidopsis
Reposted by Piotr Ziolkowski
Our latest work is out in @pnas.org! We have quantified and modeled the dynamics of early meiosis events, which can get really messy in polyploids (doubled number of chromosomes, double the trouble), but can also get fixed through adaptive evolution 🧵1/8.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Improved synapsis dynamics accompany meiotic stability in Arabidopsis arenosa autotetraploids | PNAS
During meiosis, the correct pairing, synapsis, and recombination of homologous chromosome
pairs is critical for fertility of sexual eukaryotes. The...
www.pnas.org
May 9, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Our latest work is out in @pnas.org! We have quantified and modeled the dynamics of early meiosis events, which can get really messy in polyploids (doubled number of chromosomes, double the trouble), but can also get fixed through adaptive evolution 🧵1/8.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...