Wen Tang
Ohio State University, OH·Genetics
Genomes are under constant attack from transposons, also called jumping genes, and from viruses. Both can insert themselves into DNA and destabilize it.
- Fields
Genetics
Biochemistry
Biology
- Topics
piRNA
small RNAs
RNA biology
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Jul 2027
What they work on
- Determine how transcription of piRNA genes is regulated in C. elegans, using laboratory experiments combined with computational analysis.
- Identify how piRNA precursors are processed into working piRNAs by characterizing an unconventional cap-binding protein that binds the protective cap at one end of the RNA.
- Characterize RNA-modifying enzymes that control how piRNAs are degraded in C. elegans, revealing how piRNA levels are kept in balance.
- Define the proteome and RNAome of C. elegans germ granules and test which components are required for granule formation, germline maintenance and embryo development.
- Use genetic and biochemical approaches to determine how small RNAs are amplified within germ granules and passed to offspring, shaping transgenerational inheritance.
More about the research
Cells that make eggs and sperm must be especially well guarded, because whatever they carry passes to the next generation. In the tiny worm C. elegans, these projects study two germline defenses. One is piRNAs, small RNA molecules that act as an ancient immune system for the genome. The other is germ granules, membrane-free clumps of RNA and protein in germ cells where small RNAs are made and amplified.
Why it matters
Germ granules and piRNAs protect the cells that make eggs and sperm, and are conserved across many animals. Understanding how they work could clarify the basis of fertility and the inheritance of gene regulation across generations. The germ granule work states that this knowledge could eventually point toward therapeutics to improve human fertility.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Craig Mello
University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, MA·Genetics
Determine how germline cells distinguish 'licensed' genetic information that should be expressed from potentially dangerous 'unlicensed' information such as foreign or mobile sequences, using C. elegans small-RNA silencing pathways.
Weifeng Gu
University of California-Riverside, CA·Genetics
Identify the messenger RNA and lincRNA targets of the RNA polyphosphatase PIR-2, an enzyme that trims phosphates from new RNA ends, in C. elegans.
Alicia Rogers
University of Texas at Arlington, TX·Genetics·Early-career
Test whether feedback loops between RNA interference and chromatin modifying pathways keep the two in balance to protect germ cell identity during heat stress, using C. elegans germline genetics, physiological assays and multi-omics profiling.
The school
Ohio State University: 71 labs on PI Pages, $1.6B a year on research, 882 research doctorates a year.
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