Meiosis and Development

Characterization of a new DDR pathway that monitors aspects of meiotic progression different from DSB repair. This novel pathway is in parallel to the one already described but converges to the same Gurken production machinery. My work is focused on new components of this pathway and new meiotic mechanisms under surveillance. Dissection of the process that controls timing of DDR along oogenesis. The germ line-specific mobilization of transposable elements is under DDR surveillance. However, the DSBs produced in transposon silencing mutants occur later than the endogenous DSBs. I am interested in responses caused by DNA damage occurring at different points of oogenesis. Study of sister chromatid cohesion during meiosis. Cohesion is also monitored by the meiotic checkpoint and affects the transcriptional state of the chromatin during meiosis. Because cohesion is also required for DNA repair I want to understand how the function of cohesion in transcription relates to DSB repair.