Beat Fierz

Electrostatic properties of disordered regions control transcription factor search and pioneer activity

This study shows that the electrostatic properties of disordered regions in transcription factors influence their search efficiency and pioneer activity on chromatin.

Single-molecule analysis reveals the mechanism of chromatin ubiquitylation by variant PRC1 complexes

The paper uses single-molecule analysis to show how variant PRC1 complexes interact with chromatin and perform ubiquitylation, revealing subtype-specific activity differences.

Structural basis of SIRT7 nucleosome engagement and substrate specificity

This study determines the structural basis of SIRT7's specificity for H3K36 and H3K18 deacylation by solving nucleosome-bound SIRT7 structures and analyzing enzyme-nucleosome interactions.

Chemically di-ubiquitylated H1 variants reveal position-dependent stimulation of the DNA repair protein RNF168

This study creates di-ubiquitylated H1 variants to show position-dependent stimulation of RNF168, a DNA repair protein, and demonstrates how these variants guide RNF168 recruitment to DNA breaks.

Multivalent peptide ligands to probe the chromocenter microenvironment in living cells

The paper develops multivalent peptide probes to study the chromocenter microenvironment in living cells, revealing that heterochromatin compartments are less dense and more dynamic than in vitro HP1 condensates.

SUV39 SET domains mediate crosstalk of heterochromatic histone marks

The paper investigates how the SUV39 SET domain mediates crosstalk between H3K9 methylation and H3K14 ubiquitination in heterochromatin formation.

Re-evaluating the role of nucleosomal bivalency in early development

This study re-evaluates the bivalency model using a new ChIP method, finding widespread bivalency that does not resolve with differentiation and is not specific for poised developmental genes.

Single-molecule dynamics and genome-wide transcriptomics reveal that NF-kB (p65)-DNA binding times can be decoupled from transcriptional activation

The paper investigates how NF-kB (p65) DNA binding time relates to transcriptional activation by analyzing mutants affecting DNA binding and protein-protein interaction domains.