Steven Z. DeLuca

The paper determines the structure of a type I-A retron and shows how it mediates antiphage defense through DNA degradation and nuclease activation.

The paper examines chromatin and gene expression changes in Drosophila female germline stem cells, revealing mechanisms of self-renewal and differentiation that resemble totipotent zygote development.

The paper shows that Drosophila female germline stem cells initiate Polycomb silencing during differentiation by altering PRC2 sampling through Pcl and Scm interactions.

The paper identifies Hsp70 piRNAs as the cause of poor gene expression in Drosophila germline cells using UASt promoters and introduces a modified promoter, UASz, that avoids this interference.

The paper shows that knocking down the mitochondrial DNA polymerase Tamas blocks paternal mtDNA loss in Drosophila, suggesting a novel role for DNA polymerase in mtDNA elimination.