Stephen Tang

The paper shows how two reverse transcriptases with different templating strategies work together to produce complementary DNA for antiviral defense.

The paper investigates the mechanism of tandem-repeat DNA synthesis by DRT10, revealing a 2:1 RT-ncRNA architecture and how repeat length is controlled by template distance.

The paper identifies a novel RNA-guided transcription mechanism using dCas12f and σE factors in E. coli, enabling gene activation without traditional promoter motifs.

The paper identifies DRT10, an antiviral reverse transcriptase, and shows its structural and mechanistic similarities to telomerase, suggesting a bacterial origin for telomerase.

The paper reveals a novel DNA homopolymer synthesis mechanism by DRT9, triggered by viral infection to induce abortive infection and population-level immunity.

The paper demonstrates that bacterial reverse transcriptases synthesize extrachromosomal genes via rolling-circle amplification to confer antiviral immunity.

The paper investigates the molecular mechanisms of transposition and RNA-guided DNA cleavage in IS607-family elements, revealing how transposon-encoded RNAs balance splicing and guide RNA functions.

The paper identifies TnpB-like nuclease-dead repressors (TldR) as RNA-guided transcription factors that emerged through domestication of transposon-encoded TnpB nucleases, pre-dating CRISPR-Cas systems.

This study shows that transposon-encoded nucleases use guide RNAs to bias transposon inheritance by cleaving donor joints formed during transposition.

This paper develops a CRISPR-guided transposon system for DSB-free DNA integration in human cells, improving efficiency and reducing off-target effects.