Overview
Welcome to the Siomi Lab web site. Our laboratory is investigating transposable elements (TEs). We have done lots of biochemistry and genetics to reveal how the host regulates the activity of TEs, mostly by studying RNA silencing pathways in which cognate RNA targets are inactivated by small RNA–Argonaute/Piwi complexes. Key steps in the RNA silencing pathway are shared by a diverse set of gene regulatory mechanisms. We are also interested in how the activity of TEs regulates the host. Recently, we have demonstrated that embryonic development requires TE expression in the mouse, showing that some TEs are part of the self, but not non-self selfish junk DNA elements. They have been integrated in the key cellular gene regulatory networks. Our current research focuses on the role of TEs in embryonic gene expression, how the totipotent state is established, how the transition from totipotent to pluripotent state is regulated, and the involvement of TEs in placenta development, mainly using mouse, hamster and their ESCs/iPSCs.
