July 2026
This collaborative work, led by Mercedes Carro, a Research Associate from the Cohen lab, and Alexis Dzubiek, a Postdoctoral Associate from the Grimson lab, explores the role of Argonaute proteins in orchestrating gene expression during mammalian spermatogenesis. Using knockout mouse models, immunohistochemistry, and multiomics approaches, the team found that Argonaute proteins ensure timely gene expression in the germline at the transcriptional level through non-canonical roles, rather than the classical post-transcriptional roles described for Argonaute proteins in the cytoplasm. These findings provide new insight into Argonaute biology and the gene regulatory mechanisms that safeguard meiosis and the development of functional spermatozoa. To learn more about their findings, read their research article in PLOS Genetics, “Argonaute proteins orchestrate Meiotic Sex Chromosome Inactivation and timing of the spermatogenic transcriptional program.”
