Luke Edwin Berchowitz

This study shows that PNMA1 and PNMA4, derived from retrotransposons, are essential for reproductive capacity, as their absence leads to subfertility and hormonal changes in mice and associations with reproductive traits in humans.

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

This study identifies Rie1 and Sgn1 as RNA-binding proteins that enforce meiotic entry by post-transcriptionally enhancing Ime1 protein levels in budding yeast.